DeSantis Supports 'Fully' Defunding Planned Parenthood

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has lent his full support to Attorney General Ashley Moody’s motion to vacate an injunction against an existing Florida statute that prohibits tax dollars from going to fund the for-profit Planned Parenthood’s abortion business.

“The Office of Governor Ron DeSantis is fully behind this action from the Attorney General and we support this move to fully defund Planned Parenthood from any taxpayer support,” stated Gov. DeSantis’s press secretary Bryan Griffin.

According to a press release from Moody’s office, “In 2016, state lawmakers passed HB 1411, which defunded abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood. While the state already did not pay for abortions as a general matter, HB 1411 cut off other funding.”
“In 2016, a district court prevented the Florida Legislature from defunding abortion clinics, based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe. Now that the case at the center of the court’s reasoning has been overturned, we are petitioning the court to vacate the court’s injunction and allow the will of our state’s legislative body and the people who elected them to take effect,” stated Moody.

The motion states:

“Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(5), a court may relieve a party from a final judgment or order where 'applying it prospectively is no longer equitable.'…As the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized, 'it is appropriate to grant a Rule 60(b)(5) motion when the party seeking relief from an injunction can show ‘a significant change either in factual conditions or in law.’…In fact, '[a] court errs when it refuses to modify an injunction or consent decree in light of such changes.'"

Abortion rights proponents have defended the use of taxpayer dollars to support Planned Parenthood, insisting that the company needs the money to pay for medical services outside of its abortion practice

This story is developing…