Getty State settles with Planned Parenthood over abortion challenge

TALLAHASSEE — Attorneys for Planned Parenthood and the Rick Scott administration quietly agreed to settle a legal dispute in federal court over abortion legislation that aimed to defund Planned Parenthood clinics.

Hours after federal judge Robert Hinkle held a teleconference with attorneys on Thursday, he issued an order to close the case of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida v. Celeste Philip. Hinkle also made final his June 30 temporary injunction banning efforts to defund the clinics and require increased inspection of abortion clinic records.


The provisions were included in a far-reaching abortion bill passed by the Florida legislature earlier this year. The bill — signed into law by Scott — also requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Planned Parenthood did not challenge that provision of the law.

“We are really pleased with the judges decision,” said Laura Goodhue, the executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood affiliates. “We strongly believe that Floridians need more access to health care and not less.”

Scott’s office did not directly respond to questions about why the administration chose not to continue defending the law. But Scott’s spokesperson, Jackie Schutz, said that the governor’s office is reviewing the ruling.

Hinkle's teleconference with attorneys came two weeks after the parties filed a five-page joint motion for final relief on August 5. In it, they agreed that “the evidence received on the preliminary injunction motion should be the full extent of the trial record in this matter,” and that the court should enter a final judgment for relief.

Also included in that motion is an agreement from Planned Parenthood to voluntarily dismiss from its challenge claims that the funding ban and inspection requirements in the 2016 abortion law violated the Florida constitution’s guarantee to privacy and equal protection.

While the federal challenge to the 2016 law has been put to rest, the group is continuing a challenge in state court against a 2015 law requiring women to wait 24 hours after speaking with a physician to have an abortion.

The Florida Supreme Court, which agreed to enjoin the state from enforcing the 24-hour waiting period, has scheduled oral arguments in that challenge for Nov. 1.

A copy of the joint motion for final relief is here: http://politi.co/2b2HoJf

A copy of the permanent injunction is here: http://politi.co/2bqSI6m