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Stew Lilker’s

Columbia County Observer

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Florida News/National

Defund Planned Parenthood Vote Today
Pro-Choice Community Fights Back

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The U.S. Senate will vote today on cutting $500 million in federal funding for Planned Parenthood - so Florida's pro-choice community is making its opposition known.

The vote follows the release of controversial videos showing Planned Parenthood representatives discussing the cost of fetal tissue donations to be used for scientific research.

Gov. Rick Scott has called for state inspections of local clinics.


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But Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, says Florida clinics do not participate in tissue donation programs.

"We're fighting back hard and calling this latest attack campaign what it is, part of a decade-long campaign of deceiving the public, making false charges and terrorizing women and their doctors, all in order to ban abortion and cut women off from care at Planned Parenthood," she points out.

Anti-abortion groups have scored some recent successes in Florida. A law requiring a 24-hour waiting period went into effect July 1.

Julia Dawson, an organizer with the Miami Clinic Access Project, says Florida has very strict parental notification rules.

"They have succeeded in making it more difficult for minors to obtain a court bypass if a minor cannot tell their parents because their parents are likely to throw them out of the house," she explains.

Planned Parenthood says the lion's share of its work does not involve abortion and it does not use federal funds for the procedure.

Nonetheless, Sen. Marco Rubio has indicated he will vote to defund the organization.

More than a dozen Florida organizations have signed a letter defending Planned Parenthood, including the League of Women Voters, Progress Florida and the ACLU.

Photos/graphics and links added by the Observer

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