lorida Governor Signs Law Forcing a Woman to Make Additional Clinic Trips and Delay an Abortion

June 10, 2015 9:00 am

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TALLAHASSEE –Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a bill requiring a woman who has decided to have an abortion to leave the clinic and come back another day, creating additional hurdles for a woman who must get time off work, travel and find childcare.

“Even if we disagree about abortion, we can agree that a woman who has decided to get an abortion should be able to without the interference of politicians,” said Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “It’s mean-spirited for a politician to create medically unnecessary obstacles in order to make it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion just because he or she disagrees with the decision.”

New polling shows that 7 in 10 Americans want a woman who has decided to have an abortion to be able to get it without additional burdens.

These types of laws have no medical basis, and medical groups like the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists oppose these types of laws.

Governor Scott has also signed other abortion restrictions into law, including measures that effectively ban private insurance coverage for abortion and require a woman to undergo a medically unnecessary ultrasound. Governor Scott hosted a party at the governor’s mansions for groups devoted to outlawing abortion after signing those bills into law.

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