Florida woman describes near-death from state abortion law at DNC. Who is Anya Cook?

When Anya Cook’s water broke in 2022, she was 16 weeks pregnant and the Broward County doctor told her she would lose the fetus. But Florida’s abortion laws meant that she would have to go back home until her situation got worse.

“I needed care, but my state’s abortion restrictions kept it from me,” the Coral Springs woman said on the United Center stage on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention. “I miscarried in a bathroom.

“I’ll never forget my husband’s face as he tried to stop the bleeding, trying to do what doctors should have been doing,” she said. Next to her, Cook’s husband Derick stood holding their infant daughter Anaya.

“When I reached the hospital, I lost nearly half the blood in my body,” she said.

Since then, Florida has tightened the abortion limits even further, to just 6 weeks, before many people know they’re pregnant.

What are Florida’s abortion laws?

As of May this year, nearly all abortions are illegal in Florida after six weeks, before most people know they’re pregnant.

The state’s previous 15-week ban passed in 2022 went into effect a month previous, when the Florida Supreme Court overruled a 34-year-old decision that said a privacy provision in the state constitution protected a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy. But that ruling also triggered a more restrictive 6-week ban passed by the Florida Legislature last year to go into effect 30 days later.

Florida also requires a 24-hour waiting period, so that means two appointments at the state’s overcrowded clinics before the deadline.

However, while the law reduces the amount of time pregnant people have to get an abortion, it does provide some exemptions for rape and incest that the 15-week ban lacked, something that drew criticism even from some supporters.

Florida law does include exceptions in the case of physical danger to the pregnant person but only in extreme cases and certified in writing by two physicians, something many hospitals have been loathe to do. Physicians must be willing to risk possible fines, loss of license and even imprisonment by going on record against oversight committees and the state.

Abortions are permitted in the case of rape, incest or human trafficking but only up to 15 weeks, and only if the pregnant person has copies of “a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order or documentation” to provide evidence that they are a victim of rape or incest.

A constitutional amendment to legalize abortion until fetal viability, which is generally considered to be around 23-24 weeks will be on the ballot this November.

What will Florida’s abortion amendment do?

Amendment 4, Abortion Access, says, “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”

If this amendment passes, abortion would be legal until fetal viability, which is generally considered to be around 23-24 weeks. It would also allow abortions when necessary to protect a patient’s health, as determined by a health care provider. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Republicans and anti-abortion groups are strongly against this amendment, claiming it is too vague and will lead to an unregulated abortion industry. Supporters say it will put control over the pregnant person’s body back where it belongs, with the person and their healthcare provider.

In a recent survey of likely Florida voters from the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab, 69% of those surveyed said they’d vote yes compared to only 23% saying no.