The Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee. Photo Illustration: Jezebel/Wikimedia Last week, Florida became the first state in the nation to allow C-sections to be performed outside of hospitals. Under the new law, SB 7016, certified OB-GYNs working in authorized advanced birth centers can perform planned C-sections for patients who are deemed low-risk for complications. Unsurprisingly, this is largely a product of private equity putting profit above patients and also stems from the state abortion ban's impact on the medical system. Doctors have a lot of concerns. The Republican legislators who introduced the bill say it will address a crisis in poor access to pregnancy and maternity care across the state; about 20% of counties in Florida are maternity care deserts, according to the March of Dimes, and 86% of Florida’s rural hospitals do not deliver babies. But expanding the scope of who can perform C-sections isn't the solution, and critics have raised concerns about the influence of private equity in passing this dangerous bill. Advanced birth centers are facilities designed to offer a homelike, non-medical setting for birth, and are not part of a hospital. Consequently, these centers don't always have the resources or trained staff to address the severe complications that can arise with C-sections. NBC reports that Women’s Care Enterprises, a private equity-owned physicians group primarily operating in Florida and California, applied significant pressure to the state legislature to pass the bill. And Florida Republicans sided with the group despite top experts' warnings, including the executive director of the American Association of Birth Centers, who called the bill "a radical departure from the standard of care" and "a bad idea." Dr. Judette Louis, department chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of South Florida, also questioned Women's Care Enterprises' political influence and the harm this bill could carry. "I think we also can't ignore the fact that the people promoting it and who think it's a good idea are private equity-based companies," Louis told Fox 13 last week. "It’s Women’s Care Enterprises, and they are big money in the state of Florida, so you always have to be cautious about whether there is financial gain to be had by allowing a birth center to also do cesarean sections." Cole Greves, MD, Florida district chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), told Jezebel in a statement that SB 7016 probably won't help address the maternity care desert crisis and will just endanger patients. “Florida, like many states across the country, is suffering from the effects of maternity ward closures and a shortage of obstetric care professionals," Greves said. But “advanced birth centers, even with increased regulation, cannot guarantee the level of safety patients would receive within a hospital." Even if patients are deemed “low-risk” to have a C-section, “a pregnant patient that is considered ‘low-risk’ in one moment can suddenly need lifesaving care in the next.” Greves also questioned “how feasible these centers would be in areas that already face difficulty attracting obstetric care clinicians and keeping the few hospitals that do exist operational.” Dr. Alice Abernathy, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology of the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, told Jezebel she questions “who will ultimately be served” by SB 7016. Abernathy said she’s “skeptical of the value” of a bill like this given its risks, and how it won’t address one of the key problems driving maternity care deserts: OBGYNs don't want to work in Florida since the state's laws, including a near-total abortion ban, interfere with their ability to do their jobs. (In May, Florida enacted a six-week…
