MEDIA ADVISORY
Progress Florida will be joined by partners with the Floridians for Reproductive Freedom coalition to deliver petitions from more than 5,000 Floridians calling for more aggressive DOH oversight of Florida’s anti-abortion, fake clinics.
Tuesday, July 31
- 10:00 am at the Governor’s Office
- 11:00 am at the Surgeon General’s Office at Florida Department of Health
4052 Bald Cypress Way, Tallahassee, FL 32399
BACKGROUND:
Women’s and reproductive rights advocates will deliver petitions signed by thousands of Floridians to Governor Rick Scott and Dr. Celeste Philip, Surgeon General and Secretary of the Florida Department of Health.. The petition, coordinated by Progress Florida, calls on Dr. Philip to aggressively regulate fake clinics’ utilization of the millions of dollars DOH funnels to them. These appropriations went into effect earlier this month, as passed by anti-abortion legislators and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.
More than 190 anti-abortion, fake women’s health centers operate in Florida. These fake clinics like to be called “crisis pregnancy centers” and often disguise themselves as legitimate women’s health care facilities. Fake clinics use deceptive, manipulative practices to shame women out of getting birth control and abortion care, diverting women from accessing comprehensive and timely care from appropriately trained and licensed medical providers.
Until this law is reversed by a future legislature, these fake clinics will benefit greatly from the funding stream and the legitimacy that comes from being under the DOH umbrella. Floridians are calling on Dr. Philip to make sure fake clinics are held to the requirements in the DOH contract and to show the public how she is doing so.
