A federal judge has definitively blocked a Florida abortion law that prevents state funds from going to organizations that provide abortions.
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U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett in Cincinnati sided with Planned Parenthood Friday in granting a permanent injunction.
Clinics already can not receive tax dollars to pay for abortions, but the new law also would have cut off funding that providers receive to offer other women’s health services.
Lawyers for the state argued that the ban on using public funds for other services was permissible because it did not impose an “undue burden” on a women’s right to an abortion. In it, health officials agreed to the terms of Hinkle’s earlier ruling.
Lillian Tamayo, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida, said the organization was grateful the court had halted part of the law signed by Republican Governor Rick Scott.
He also threw out a requirement that the state review records for half of the abortions performed each year, which generally exceeds 70,000.
The administration could still appeal the case, but the move the state is unusual.
Scott’s office has not yet said whether it intends to do so.
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Planned Parenthood did not challenge a related provision requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, a type of formal affiliation that can be hard to obtain. Florida was among many states adopting new abortion laws as conservatives seek to chip away at the US Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Goodhue said Planned Parenthood doesn’t have any plans to do so at this time.
