Florida is handing out fines for abortion providers under a little-known law, as the state has become a destination for women seeking abortions due to its 15-week abortion restriction.
Surrounding states with heartbeat laws that restrict abortions around 6 weeks have travelers going to Florida for abortions, but a law requiring a 24-hour wait for those to sleep on their decision has abortion providers getting fined, Politico reported.
Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) has issued $500,000 in fines to 14 abortion providers for failing to follow the law on requiring women to wait 24 hours before going through with abortions, according to the report.
The law was passed in Florida in 2015, but the American Civil Liberties Union's challenge had kept it from being enforced until a judge upheld it last April.
Abortion advocacy groups are upset Florida's abortion destinations are being punished by the AHCA regulator, because those traveling to the state are forced to get a hotel room or stay another day under the law.
"We have a lot of independent clinics in this state that are working hard to provide women with access, so it's a shame," Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates Executive Director Laura Goodhue told Politico. "And women are getting hurt in the process, especially the ones coming from out of state."
The issue might get worse, abortion advocates fear, because the GOP-dominated Florida Legislature is weighing laws to move the 15-week abortion restriction up to 6 weeks like other states with the start of a fetal heartbeat.
"It's very easy to be tough on abortion when you're sitting hundreds of miles away in your ivory tower in Tallahassee versus these doctors and nurses who are dealing with women who are about to make one of the most consequential decisions of their lives," Florida House Minority Leader Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, told Politico.
The AHCA fines an abortion provider $1,000 for any paperwork that does not show a 24-hour wait before an abortion is performed. One Orlando location was fined $193,000 for the 193 patient case violations.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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