More than abortions at stake in law challenge
Planned Parenthood says funding cut would affect screenings, more.
When a federal judge in Tallahassee is asked today to block Florida’s new abortion law from taking effect Friday, his decision will affect more than just women’s abilities to terminate their pregnancies, according to Planned Parenthood officials who are challenging the measure.
I n c u t t i n g a n e s t i m a t e d $700,000 in funding to Planned Parenthood because it provides abortions, the new law would affect women who want to be screened for breast and cervical cancer, as well as at-risk teens throughout the state, said Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates.
The organization’s chapters, including one serving Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, will ask U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle to stop the law, which includes the funding cut, from taking effec t as scheduled on July 1. The hearing comes three days after the U.S. Supreme Court declared a Texas abortion law unconstitutional.
But Florida health officials say cancer screening for low-income women and pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease testing programs for teens aren’t in jeopardy. The Palm Beach County Health Department, like others throughout the state, already offer the same services Planned Parenthood has been providing and will be able to absorb its former patients, Sharissa Chapman, interim chief for the Florida Department of Health’s bureau of family health services, said in court papers.
“It is my opinion that there will be no reduction in the public funding of these services,” she said in a sworn affidavit filed in federal court.
In a dueling sworn statement, Lillian Tamayo, president and CEO of the West Palm Beach-based Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida, voiced doubt about Chapman’s claim.
For instance, Tamayo said, because her organization could tap private money in its budget, it was able to offer health services to 867 teens last year — 367 more than it was obligated to serve under its $44,600 contract