Florida fines abortionists for violating state’s mandatory waiting period

POLITICO reports that the state of Florida, which previously passed a 15-week abortion restriction, has been handing out fines to abortionists who have violated its mandatory waiting period law.

The state currently mandates a 24-hour waiting period between the time that a woman first visits an abortion facility and when she is able to undergo the abortion. According to Politico, the state has thus far issued fines to 14 of the state’s 52 abortion facilities for violating this waiting period, with fines totaling $500,000. One Orlando facility received the largest fine, with records indicating that it violated the law in 193 instances. Several of the abortion facilities challenged the fines and settled for a reduced fee.

Though the law was first established in 2015, it was tied up in the legal system and unenforceable until April 2022, when Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey threw out the lawsuit challenging it.

“Twenty-four hours is the minimum time needed to sleep on such an important decision,” Dempsey wrote in her decision. “And it is shorter than or the same waiting periods for other decisions that implicate significant constitutional interests — privacy.”

POLITICO reports that the state started issuing fines within 17 days of Dempsey’s ruling.

“The 17 days between the circuit court judge’s orders provided ample notice of her decision for clinics to comply,” said Bailey Smith, a spokesperson for the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). “The Agency’s Division of Health Quality Assurance has surveyors throughout that state that are efficient and diligent in their work to protect the health and safety of Floridians.”

Abortion is a life-altering decision that comes with a number of physical risks. Mandatory waiting period laws have been praised as a common-sense way to make sure that abortion-minded women are able to fully consent to the abortion procedure. Though the waiting period does not restrict abortion in any way, except to make sure that abortion is really the “choice” that women want, many abortion advocates decry the law as placing an undue burden on women.

“We have a lot of independent clinics in this state that are working hard to provide women with access, so it’s a shame,” Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, told POLITICO. “And women are getting hurt in the process, especially the ones coming from out of state.”

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