Originally published at Naples Daily News.
Alexandra Glorioso , alexandra.glorioso@naplesnews.com; 239-435-3442 Published 7:37 p.m. ET April 3, 2017 | Updated 10:46 a.m. ET April 4, 2017
As Republicans fight abortion nationally, the Florida House is expected to pass a bill this week that would steer millions of dollars annually to a support group that offers pregnant women counseling and services but refuses to refer clients for abortions.
The Florida Pregnancy Care Network is a private, nonprofit tax-exempt organization created in 2006. It has supported clinics across the state that, according to a Senate bill, offer an array of “wellness services” intended to help pregnant women “improve health or prevent illness and injury.” The programs supported by the network do not include abortion referrals or adoptions, according to a website defining the effort.
Now lawmakers want to carve out a special place in state law for the program, guaranteeing its funding each year and tucking it in a state agency for oversight.
“If you are pro-abortion, you don’t like this bill,” said bill sponsor Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach. “If you are pro-life, you like this bill.”
The bill that would add the program into state law is part of a Republican effort to marginalize funding for Planned Parenthood, the national organization that provides health care, including abortion services, to women and men.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate narrowly passed a bill that would allow states to reverse a federal regulation by former President Barack Obama and would give states the go-ahead to deny some federal money to Planned Parenthood. The legislation already has been approved in the House.
Bean said he did not think his legislation was part of a state-paid effort to replace Planned Parenthood with a network of anti-abortion clinics, but he said he favors denying the organization federal money.
Rep. Jackie Toledo, R-Tampa, sponsor of the House version, said she and Bean are working together to make sure the bills are the same. She said she is hopeful the legislation will become law this year.
The proposal to give the nonprofit program a special place in state law comes as the House is taking aim at economic development, incentive and tourism programs identified in statute to receive taxpayer money. House Speaker Richard Corcoran has targeted the development and incentive programs, arguing businesses shouldn't receive taxpayer money to expand or locate in Florida.
The House is expected to consider Toledo’s bill, HB969, Tuesday. Bean’s measure, SB1130, passed one committee last month and awaits action in a second.
A Florida group of pregnancy centers known as the Florida Pregnancy Support Services program has received state money since 1996, according to a Senate analysis of Bean's bill. In 2006, during Gov. Jeb Bush’s final year, the program received $2 million through a specific line item in the budget, and through this year has received at least $15.9 million in state money for the support program.
The Florida Pregnancy Care Network has been administering the program for the Florida Department of Health since 2006. The Legislature approved $4 million for the network in the current budget.
Sen. Lauren Book, a sexual abuse victim, said she is concerned about how the legislation would affect young women seeking an abortion after being molested. Book, who runs the Lauren's Kids nonprofit to fight sexual abuse, said she is concerned that women visiting one of the network clinics after being molested would not receive information or references on where to get the procedure.
“(My non-profit) has had countless women come to us and request information on abortions after being raped or dealing with incest,” Book, D-Plantation, said in an interview after she voted against Bean's bill. “If they go to an organization like that and are not given the full picture after rape or incest, that to me should make people angry. These women are concerned and afraid.”
Bean said his bill, if passed, would ensure that the network's information is medically sound and the clinics are monitored by the state.
The Senate and House versions of the bill both say Care Network can only subcontract with providers that don’t give abortions, that subcontractors must give medically accurate information and that they cannot promote religious content.
Whereas Planned Parenthood is regulated by the federal law, the Care Network’s executive director, Susan Grimsley acknowledged her organization was not regulated for health standards, writing in an email that it does not “provide direct services.”
Grimsley said the network served 24,174 women in 2015 by contracting with 100 pregnancy support organizations across the state. Some of the organizations provide limited medical services such as ultrasounds, according to the network's website.
“These facilities are often not licensed health care providers,” said a Florida Planned Parenthood lobbyist, Missy Wesolowski, who opposes the legislation. “All health care providers or counselors should be regulated on industry standards and sound medical practice.”