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Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has asked a federal trial court to allow the state to enforce a seven-year-old law denying taxpayer support for health facilities that provide abortions, even if the money wouldn’t pay directly for abortion services.
Back in 2016, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle cited Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognizing the right to undergo abortions depending on the stage of pregnancy, in issuing an injunction against a law passed that same year withholding state support for non-abortion services including STD testing and birth control.
Now Moody wants Hinkle to dissolve his injunction, pointing out in a motion filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida that the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, now has reversed Roe.
That represents “a significant change either in factual conditions or in law” justifying withdrawal of the injunction,” the motion argues.
Moody’s legal team wrote in their motion that Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and other affiliates that challenged the law would not contest the move.
Moody asserts that: “Plaintiffs do not oppose this motion on the condition that the court’s order clarify that the effective date of the vacatur is June 1, 2023. Plaintiffs made this request to ensure an orderly transition. Defendants consent to this condition,” according to the motion.
Vacating the injunction, Moody said in a written statement, would “allow the will of our state’s legislative body and the people who elected them to take effect.”
Stephanie Fraim, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, issued a statement lamenting the situation.
“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. Now, the state is jeopardizing Floridians’ health by blocking Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida from receiving funding for these services,” Fraim said.
“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 LGBTQ+. It is unconscionable that those in power are further restricting Floridians’ ability to lead healthy and fulfilled lives,” she continued.
“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.”
Indirect support
The motion emphasized Hinkle’s reliance on Roe and noted that the state had argued that the money indirectly subsidized abortion care.
“In enjoining [the law] this court reasoned that the statute unconstitutionally conditions plaintiffs’ receipt of state funds by ‘prohibit[ing] indirectly’ abortions ‘that the government could not constitutionally prohibit directly,’” the document reads.
“Dobbs, however, makes clear that there is no constitutional right to abortion and that Supreme Court cases holding otherwise were ‘egregiously wrong from the start.’ The state may thus constitutionally prohibit abortion within its borders,” it continues.
“In light of Dobbs, the legal basis for this court’s injunction no longer exists,” it concludes.
Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court has yet to decide the legitimacy of the state’s new 15-week abortion ban under the Florida Constitution’s privacy-rights clause. In that case, Moody’s office has asked the justices to overrule their own 1989 holding that the clause protects abortion rights.
According to the new brief, federal trial judges have acceded to similar requests in Louisiana, Ohio, and Indiana since the Supreme Court overturned Roe on June 24.
“This court should do the same,” the brief says.
Note: This story has been updated to include comments from Planned Parenthood.
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