STATE SEN. SHERVIN JONES: Originally proposed “Ava’s Law,” to allow prison sentence delays, in 2023 following the death of a newborn in a Florida county jail. PHOTO COURTESY OF FLORIDAPOLITICS

Miami– A bill in the Florida Legislature that would’ve delayed pregnant women’s prison sentences following a felony conviction until after they give birth won’t come to fruition, again.

After two previous failed attempts, state Sen. Shervin Jones (D-West Park) filed SB 206 but it and the House Bill 145, were both shut out in committees’ hearings.

The bill would’ve required judges to stay the prison terms of expectant mothers for up to 12 weeks, so they could give birth and be with their newborns for a certain period of time before reporting to jail.

The proposed legislation, called Ava’s Law, was originally sponsored by Jones in 2023 following the death of a newborn in a Florida county jail.

According to Jones, in 2021 the baby’s mother, Erica Thomson, called for help when she went into premature labor alone in her cell without medical aid.

A Senate bill was approved in 2023 but the House version didn’t get a committee hearing.

The bill also didn’t get a committee hearing in the House in 2024; however, lawmakers approved Jones’ legislation that year which mandated that menstrual products be provided free in Florida correctional facilities, and the “Tammy Jackson Act” to prohibit solitary confinement for pregnant prisoners and require that prisoners who go into labor be transported to a medical facility.

For 2025, Tampa Rep. Diane Hart sponsored the legislation in the House with cosponsorship support from Fort Lauderdale Rep. Darryl Hart, a fellow Democrat.

Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo, a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor, and Orlando Democratic Sen. Carlos G. Smith co-sponsored Jones’ bill in the upper chamber.

But this time around, the committees in the Republican-controlled House and Senate didn’t call for a hearing on the bill.

Jones couldn’t be reached for comments.

According to a study, pregnant women in prison face day-to-day difficulties including limited decisions about care and physical restrictions during labor and delivery.

Some women returned to prison within 24 hours after giving birth without proper medical care or support for a recovery period.

According to the American Journal of Public Health, since 2019, roughly 111,616 women who were incarcerated, 27 percent of them were pregnant.

Most of them gave birth in their jail cells or shackled to hospital beds.

The study included 57 percent of the US prison population including in New York, California and Florida.

It found that 3.8 percent of newly admitted women were pregnant and that in a single year, incarcerated women had 753 live births, 46 miscarriages, four stillbirths and 11 abortions.