DeSantis ‘fully behind’ defunding Planned Parenthood by stripping taxpayer dollars

Eric Daugherty contributed to this report.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said he supports the attorney general’s petition to reinstate a law prohibiting government funds from going to Planned Parenthood.

“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,” the Executive Office of the Governor said.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody petitioned a federal court to allow a 2016 Florida law to go into effect following the U.S. Supreme’s Court ruling that affected Roe v. Wade.

The 2016 law, HB 1411, ensured Florida’s state funds would not go to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions and other forms of healthcare for women.

“In 2016, a district court prevented the Florida Legislature from defunding abortion clinics, based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe,” Moody said.

“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,” she said.

Moody’s office argued the court initially struck down the law because it “indirectly prohibited abortions, which under that ruling was a constitutional right.”

They said the Dobbs ruling clarified there is no right to an abortion.

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.’

Moody’s motion to vacate the court’s injunction

The attorney general’s office said hile the state already did not pay for abortions as a general matter, HB 1411 cut off other funding.

Roe was overturned in June 2022, which resulted in state’s moving to enact pro-life protections.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he believes Florida will “expand” those protections.