ORLANDO, Fla. — Amid criticism of Florida’s six-week abortion ban, state health regulators issued emergency rules Thursday clarifying what medical conditions qualify for exceptions under the new law.

The rules say that if a woman’s water breaks prematurely, inducing delivery is not defined as an abortion, nor is the treatment of an ectopic pregnancy or trophoblastic tumor, a rare growth that forms in the uterus.

Providers have been demanding clarity since the state’s 15-week ban in 2022, and calls for guidance increased in the days leading up to the six-week ban, which took effect Wednesday.

Chelsea Daniels, an abortion provider in South Florida, previously told the Orlando Sentinel that the exceptions in both laws are overly vague, leading medical professionals to deny women care out of an abundance of caution. Violators of the law could lose their medical licenses and face third-degree felony charges.

“These exceptions are incredibly difficult to decipher and define and to follow,” Daniels said last week. “Physicians and the lawyers advising us, we are afraid to make medical decisions that could put us in legal jeopardy, even if we understand that our medical decisions are based in the science.”

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, expressed limited gratitude for the emergency rule on social media early Thursday.

“Desantis is picking & choosing which life saving care he supports & which he doesn’t by deeming some care “not an abortion” even when procedure is the same. Glad for some clarity so lives can be saved but healthcare should never be politicized like this,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

There have been several instances since the 15-week ban’s passage where Florida women were turned away from hospitals after their water broke prematurely, with potentially life-threatening consequences.

Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood was cited in 2023 by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for refusing to provide an abortion for a woman whose water broke because she was past Florida’s 15-week limit.

Despite issuing the new rule, Agency for Health Care Administration supporters contended that the exceptions were already clear and accused abortion-right advocates of spreading “disinformation.”

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