TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott's office scrubbed a press release written by his own regulators that found there was no "mishandling of fetal remains" at clinics run by Planned Parenthood and, at the same time, said it would refer doctors who worked at those clinics to the state Board of Medicine for possible disciplinary action. […] The state released its findings of the Planned Parenthood investigations on Aug. 5. Emails between the governor's office and AHCA, obtained by POLITICO Florida through a public records request, show the agency prepared a press release that same day noting that "there is no evidence of the mishandling of fetal remains at any of the 16 clinics we investigated across the state." Scott's office revised the release to exclude that sentence, an email sent by Scott's communications director, Jackie Schutz, shows. Additionally, the revised release noted the AHCA would refer physicians who worked at the clinics to the Board of Medicine for possible disciplinary action.

Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) of course jumped on the persecute Planned Parenthood bandwagon after the anti-choice extremist group Center for Medical Progress released its first faked "sting" video against the organization. He ordered an investigation by the state's Agency for Health Care Administration, and then this happened What the AHCA would be referring the doctors to the board about is a mystery, given there was no evidence that they did anything wrong in the handling of tissue. But the Scott administration apparently doesn't need any evidence to use its authority to attack the organization. Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, says as much in expressing no surprise at all at learning that his office doctored the AHCA's finding. "The fact is Governor Rick Scott is playing politics with women’s health by orchestrating this attack on a trusted health care provider," she told POLITICO Florida. He's not just orchestrating the attack. He's manufacturing the evidence for it.