Resolution 2019-30887RESOLUTION NO. 2019 -30887
A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION
OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, CONDEMNING THE
INVIDIOUS AND REPRESSIVE ANTI- ABORTION
LEGISLATION PASSED IN SEVERAL U.S. STATES,
URGING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO TAKE
NECESSARY STEPS TO SAFEGUARD AND PROMOTE
THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO ABORTION AND
ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE, URGING
ALL FLORIDA MUNICIPALITIES TO JOIN THE CITY OF
MIAMI BEACH IN ITS EFFORTS TO PROTECT ABORTION
RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE, AND
DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT THIS
RESOLUTION AND THE COMMENTS SET FORTH HEREIN
TO THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE, THE FLORIDA
LEAGUE OF CITIES, AND TO ALL MUNICIPALITIES
WITHIN MIAMI -DADE, BROWARD, MONROE, PALM
BEACH, AND MARTIN COUNTIES.
' WHEREAS, in a 1973 landmark decision, Roe v. Wade, the United States
Supreme Court established that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution provides a fundamental "right to privacy" that protects a pregnant
person's liberty to choose whether or not to have an abortion; and
WHEREAS, before Roe v. Wade, illegal abortions were estimated to range from
200,000 to 1.2 million per year, and constituted at least 17 percent of all maternal deaths
attributed to pregnancy and childbirth in 1965 alone1; and
WHEREAS, the legalization of abortion in the U.S. led to safer practices and
drastically reduced the incidence of maternal deaths and hospitalizations related to
abortion2; and
WHEREAS, in 2018, over 60 bills were introduced in more than 21 States to
protect and expand access to reproductive care; and
1 Rachel Benson Gold, Lessons from Before Roe: Will Past Be Prologue ?, GUTTMACHER INST. (March 2003),
https: / /www.guttmacher.org /gpr/ 2003 /03 /lessons- roe - will - past -be- prologue.
2 Susan A. Cohen, Facts and Consequences: Legality, Incidence and Safety of Abortion Worldwide, 12
GUTTMACHER POLICY REVIEW 2 (2009), available at
https: / /www.guttmacher.org/ sites / default /files /article_files /gpr120402. pdf.
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WHEREAS, however, state legislatures across the country have adopted more
than 420 abortion restrictions since 20113, with the strictest laws enacted recently in the
states of Alabama and Georgia; and
WHEREAS, the laws enacted in Alabama and Georgia are the most egregious
anti- abortion laws to date as they threaten an individual's fundamental right to privacy
and the right to safe and legal access to abortion;
WHEREAS, specifically, the Alabama law, entitled the "Human Life Protection Act"
(the "Alabama Law "), and signed into law on May 15, 2019, prohibits abortions at any
stage of pregnancy (unless a person's life is threatened or there is a lethal fetal anomaly),
and carries no exceptions for termination of a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest;
and
WHEREAS, the Alabama Law is the strictest anti - abortion measure passed in the
United States in nearly half a century, which flouts the precedent established by the U.S.
Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade and subsequent decisions, and makes performing
abortions a felony; abortion doctors, if convicted, could face prison time up to 99 years;
and
WHEREAS, Alabama's attempt to essentially ban abortion, and eviscerate a
person's right to choose, places the safety, health, and welfare of people at risk, as many
people will nonetheless choose to terminate their pregnancies and will be forced to do so
through unregulated, and potentially unsafe means; and
WHEREAS, the Alabama Law is part of a broader, concerted, national effort to
eliminate access to safe and legal abortions; and
WHEREAS, more states are expected to follow suit by passing draconian, blatantly
unconstitutional abortion restrictions, with the intention that such restrictions will be
challenged and appealed, so that the Supreme Court is ultimately forced to reconsider
the fundamental right to abortion; and
WHEREAS, each year, about five million women worldwide are hospitalized for
complications arising from unsafe, illegal abortions4; and
3 Elizabeth Nash, et al., Policy Trends 2018: With Roe v Wade in Jeopardy, States Continued to Add New Abortion
Restrictions, GUTTMACHER INST. (Jan. 2019), https: / /www.guttmacher.org /article/ 2018 /12 /state - policy- trends -2018-
roe-v- wade - jeopardy- states - continued - add - new - abortion.
4 Susan A. Cohen, Facts and Consequences: Legality, Incidence and Safety of Abortion Worldwide, 12
GUTTMACHER POLICY REVIEW 2 4 (2009), available at
https: / /www.guttmacher.org/ sites / default/ files /article_files /gpr120402. pdf.
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WHEREAS, internationally, abortion- related deaths occur more frequently in
countries that restrict abortion, and the 82 countries with the most restrictive abortion laws
also have the highest incidence of unsafe abortions5; and
WHEREAS, a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine study
concluded that abortion is safe and effective, but medically - unnecessary regulations of
abortion can diminish the quality of abortion care by contributing to the decline of facilities
that provide abortion, needlessly delaying abortion, and making it unnecessarily difficult
to access abortion care6; and
WHEREAS, according to leading public health organizations such as the American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association, American
Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Osteopathic Association, blocking
women's access to legal abortion "jeopardize[s] women's health" 7; and
WHEREAS, the impact of abortion restrictions is predominantly felt by those who
already experience barriers to health care, including young people, people of color and
those with disabilities, people with low incomes, and people who live in rural areas or are
undocumented; and
WHEREAS, the City of Miami Beach has historically been at the front of advancing,
promoting, and protecting the rights of marginalized communities, including reproductive
rights; and
WHEREAS, in 2010, the Mayor and the City Commission adopted Resolution No.
2010- 27405, urging Governor Charlie Christ to veto a bill that would require pregnant
people to undergo an ultrasound and review the ultrasound images prior to obtaining an
abortion; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor and City Commission of the City of Miami Beach
vehemently oppose all legislation passed in Alabama, Georgia, and other states which
restrict a person's constitutional and fundamental right to abortion; and
WHEREAS, the Florida standard for privacy extends even further than the federal
standard, as the Florida Constitution explicitly provides that "every natural person has the
right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into the person's private life;"
and
WHEREAS, as such, the Mayor and the City Commission urge the Florida
5 Lisa Haddad & Nawal Naur, Unsafe Abortion: Unnecessary Maternal Mortality, 2 REVIEWS IN OBSTETRICS &
GYNECOLOGY 122, 124 (2009), available at
https: / /www. ncbi. nlm. nih.gov /pmc/ articles/ PMC2709326 /pdf /RI00002002_0122.pdf.
6 NAT'L ACADEMIES OF SCI., ENGINEERING, AND MED. ( "NAT'L ACADEMIES "), THE SAFETY & QUALITY OF
ABORTION CARE IN THE U.S. (March 2018).
Brief for American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists et al. as Amici Curiae Supporting Appellant at 5,
Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, 136 S. Ct. 2292 (2016) 2016 WL 74948.
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Legislature to join other states in protecting and promoting access to reproductive
healthcare and fundamental right to abortion, rather than restrict them, by doing the
following: (1) promoting preventive health care services for women; (2) ensuring that
every individual has access to comprehensive, affordable health care that includes
pregnancy - related care, including prenatal care, miscarriage management, family
planning services, abortion care, labor and delivery services, and postnatal care; and (3)
improving access to reproductive health care; and
WHEREAS, furthermore, the Mayor and_the City Commission urge all Florida
municipalities to join its efforts in safeguarding and promoting access to reproductive
healthcare and abortion rights, and pass resolutions urging the Florida Legislature to take
steps necessary to protect and promote reproductive healthcare and abortion rights,
instead of restricting them.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT DULY RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, that the Mayor and City
Commission hereby condemn the invidious and repressive anti - abortion legislation
passed in several U.S. states, urge the Florida Legislature to take necessary steps to
safeguard and promote the fundamental right to abortion and access to reproductive
healthcare, urge all Florida municipalities to join the City of Miami Beach in its efforts to
protect abortion rights and reproductive healthcare, and direct the City Clerk to transmit
this Resolution and the comments set forth herein to the Florida Legislature, the Florida
League of Cities, and to all municipalities within Miami -Dade, Broward, Monroe, Palm
Beach, and Martin Counties.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this %� day of .%r� , 2019.
Attest:
</A7 tql 25:l9
Rafa I E. G nado, City Clerk
Dan Gelber, Mayor
(Sponsored by Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman)
(Co- Sponsored by Mayor and City Commission)
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APPROVED AS TO
FORM & LANGUAGE
& FOR EXECUTION
,A s f--- 7 OM
City Attorney Date
MIAMI BEACH
Resolutions - C7 Q
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Raul J. Aguila, City Attorney
DATE: July 17, 2019
SUBJECT:A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF MIAMI
BEACH, FLORIDA, CONDEMNING THE INVIDIOUS AND REPRESSIVE
ANTI- ABORTION LEGISLATION PASSED IN SEVERAL U.S. STATES,
URGING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO TAKE NECESSARY STEPS TO
SAFEGUARD AND PROMOTE THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO ABORTION
AND ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE, URGING ALL
FLORIDA MUNICIPALITIES TO JOIN THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH IN ITS
EFFORTS TO PROTECT ABORTION RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTIVE
HEALTHCARE, AND DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT THIS
RESOLUTION AND THE COMMENTS SET FORTH HEREIN TO THE
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE, THE FLORIDA LEAGUE OF CITIES, AND TO
ALL MUNICIPALITIES WITHIN MIAMI -DADE, BROWARD, MONROE, PALM
BEACH, AND MARTIN COUNTIES.
RECOMMENDATION
Pursuant to the request of Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman, the above- referenced
Resolution is submitted for consideration by the Mayor and City Commission at the July 17,
2019 Commission meeting.
Legislative Tracking
Office of the City Attorney
Sponsor
Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman
ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Resolution
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