Florida’s Attorney General Asks Court to Stop Funding to Planned Parenthood

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis listens as Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks during a press conference at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Aug. 18, 2022. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Florida’s Attorney General seeks to stop state money from going to Planned Parenthood.

Attorney General Ashley Moody is asking the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee to vacate an injunction it issued in 2016 that stopped the enforcement of a Florida law defunding abortion clinics.

The court’s rationale, Moody said, was based on the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.

Now, Moody argues in the state’s filing, the legal basis for the injunction no longer exists.

Planned Parenthood passes out free signs, T-shirts, stickers, and water to people attending an abortion rights rally with Vice President Kamala Harris in Tallahassee, Fla., on Jan. 22, 2023. Courtesy of Natasha Holt

The Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade.

So Moody wants Florida’s House Bill 1411, the 2016 law, put back into force.

As a matter of course, the state already did not fund abortions, Moody’s office said in a statement, but the bill had sought to cut other money going to abortion providers.

The federal court had enjoined enforcement of the 2016 law in the case of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida v. Dr. Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general.

“The Office of Governor Ron DeSantis is fully behind this action from the attorney general and supports this move to fully defund Planned Parenthood from any taxpayer support,” his office said in a statement.

To provide an orderly transition Planned Parenthood is not opposing the move provided the effective date is June 1, 2023, to which the state agrees, Moody said in the filing.

Then-Gov. Rick Scott signed HB 1411 in 2016. It prohibited state and local money from going to any organization also providing abortions.

The state already prohibited the money from paying for abortions, but the bill extended the prohibition to non-abortion services, such as sexually transmitted disease screenings and family planning, done by abortion-providing clinics.

Florida’s Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo speaks during a press conference at the University of Miami Health System Don Soffer Clinical Research Center, in Miami, Fla., on May 17, 2022. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In the fiscal year 2014–2015, the state spent about $139,000 on non-abortion services with Planned Parenthood and projected $163,000 for 2015–2016.

In its 2016 challenge, Planned Parenthood said the law would cost it $500,000, including Medicaid funding for services like HIV and cancer screenings.

In a Feb. 22 statement to a Tampa television station, the clinic chain decried the move.

“Thousands of Floridians with low incomes turn to Planned Parenthood health centers for essential preventive care like STI testing and treatment, cancer screening, and birth control,” Planned Parenthood said to 10 Tampa Bay.

“Now, the state is jeopardizing Floridians’ health by blocking Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida from receiving funding for these services.”

“This is just the latest attack on the health of the communities that rely on our providers, especially black and Latino people, young people, and people who are LGBT.”

“It is unconscionable that those in power are further restricting Floridians’ ability to lead healthy and fulfilled lives,” Planned Parenthood stated.

“Despite this setback, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida will do everything in our power to provide high-quality, affordable care to all who seek it—no matter what.”

Planned Parenthood nationally performed 383,460 “abortion procedures” in 2020, according to its annual report, an increase of almost 30,000 over the previous year.

It performed more abortions than breast care and pap smear exams combined, 371,755.

In Florida, state health statistics show 74,868 abortions were reported in 2020, 79,817 in 2021, and 82,192 in 2022. Each year, more than 90 percent of abortions were done in the first trimester.