Planned Parenthood of Southwest & Central Florida v. Philip

194 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86251
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedJune 30, 2016
DocketCASE NO. 4:16cv321-RH/CAS
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 194 F. Supp. 3d 1213 (Planned Parenthood of Southwest & Central Florida v. Philip) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Planned Parenthood of Southwest & Central Florida v. Philip, 194 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86251 (N.D. Fla. 2016).

Opinion

[1215]*1215PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

Robert L. Hinkle, United States District Judge.

This case presents a challenge to newly enacted Florida legislation that targets abortion providers. The plaintiffs — entities that provide abortions and other, unrelated services — assert that three provisions are unconstitutional. The first provision blocks abortion providers from receiving funds from the state and local governments, under contracts or otherwise, for providing services wholly unrelated to abortions. The second provision requires state officials to inspect the medical records of 50% of all abortion patients — a percentage far in excess of the requirement for other medical providers. The third provision defines the trimesters of a pregnancy — an important component of Florida’s regulatory scheme — using terminology different from accepted medical terminology; the plaintiffs say the definition is vague.-

The plaintiffs have moved for a preliminary injunction.

I. Background

The plaintiffs are Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, Inc., and Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast, Inc., doing business as Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida. They provide abortions through licensed clinics. They also provide other services having nothing to do with abortions, including testing for sexually transmitted diseases, screenings for breast and cervical cancer, family-planning services and education, vasectomies, and a program that provides academic support and attempts to prevent teens from dropping out of school. The plaintiffs provide these services at little or no cost to patients.

Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature amended the Florida abortion statute. See Ch. 16-150, Laws of Florida. The amendments are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2016.

The plaintiffs filed this action asserting three of the amended provisions are unconstitutional. The plaintiffs named as defendants two state officials — the Surgeon General (who is also the Secretary of the Department of Health) and the Secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration — both in their official capacities. These officials have a role in enforcing the challenged provisions.

The first challenged provision — the “de-funding provision” — is Florida Statutes § 390.0111(15). It provides that a state agency, local government entity, or Medicaid managed-care plan “may not expend funds for the benefit of, pay funds to, or initiate or renew a contract with an organization that owns, operates, or is affiliated with one or more clinics that are licensed under this chapter and perform abortions,” subject to specific exceptions. The exceptions are for contracts entered into before the provision’s effective date, funds payable on a fee-for-service basis under the Medicaid statute, and funds paid to clinics that perform abortions only in limited circumstances — circumstances much narrower than encompassed by a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.

The second challenged provision — the “inspection provision” — is Florida Statutes § 390.012(l)(c)2. Florida law has long required abortion clinics to keep medical records and to undergo annual inspections by the Agency for Health Care Administration. The records include highly sensitive personal information on topics including medical history, contraceptive practices, sexual history, HIV status, and mental health. AHCA has typically reviewed the records of 15 to 20 patients as part of its inspection of a clinic. The amendment requires AHCA to “inspect at least 50 per[1216]*1216cent of patient records generated since the clinic’s last license inspection.” This will mean as many as 700 records at a single clinic. AHCA’s cost of conducting the inspections apparently will be. rolled into license fees. See Fla. Stat. § 390.014(3).

The third challenged provision — the “trimester definition” — is Florida Statutes § 390.011(12)(a). It defines the trimesters of a pregnancy. The statute defines the “first trimester” as “the period of time from fertilization through the end of the 11th week of gestation.” This is important because it controls which clinics may perform an abortion for a given patient and what procedures must be used.

The plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction. By agreement of both sides, the evidence consists of declarations, not live testimony. The parties have fully briefed the motion and have presented oral argument.

II. The Preliminary-Injunction Standard

As a prerequisite to a preliminary injunction, a plaintiff must establish a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, that the plaintiff will suffer irreparable injury if the injunction does not issue, that the threatened injury outweighs whatever damage the proposed injunction may cause a defendant, and that the injunction will not be adverse to the public interest. See, e.g., Charles H. Wesley Educ. Found., Inc. v. Cox, 408 F.3d 1349, 1354 (11th Cir.2005); Siegel v. LePore, 234 F.3d 1163, 1176 (11th Cir.2000) (en banc).

This order addresses likelihood of success on the three challenged provisions in sections III, IV, and V. The order addresses the other prerequisites to a preliminary injunction in section VI. The order addresses the requirement for security in section VII.

A preliminary note: this order addresses the issues based on the record as compiled to this point and reaches legal conclusions based on likelihood of success. The merits have not been consolidated with the preliminary-injunction proceedings. This is not a final judgment on the merits.

III. The Defunding Provision

The United States and the State of Florida, like many other states, have long prohibited the use of public funds to provide or support abortions. That such measures are constitutional was settled long ago. See, e.g., Maher v. Roe, 432 U.S. 464, 97 S.Ct. 2376, 53 L.Ed.2d 484 (1977). As recognized there, a state may choose to prefer child birth over abortion and to allocate its resources accordingly.

This case is different. Before the defunding provision was adopted, Florida law already prohibited the use of state or local funds to provide or support abortions. The defunding provision goes further and refuses to fund services that are wholly unrelated to abortions. The provision does this based not on any objection to how the funds are being spent — on things like testing for sexually transmitted disease or dropout prevention — and not based on any objection to the quality of services being provided, but solely because the recipients of the funds choose to provide abortions separate and apart from any public funding — as the Supreme Court has put. it, on their “own time and dime.” Agency for Int’l Dev. v. All. for Open Soc’y Int’l, Inc., — U.S. —, —, 133 S.Ct. 2321, 2330, 186 L.Ed.2d 398 (2013).

This brings into play the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine.

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Bluebook (online)
194 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/planned-parenthood-of-southwest-central-florida-v-philip-flnd-2016.