INSIDER – A $193,000 fine against the Center of Orlando for Women is threatening to bankrupt the abortion clinic.
The state wants to “fine our clinic out of existence,” a local volunteer told Insider.
The organization Stand With Abortion Now has already crowdfunded nearly half the fine.
When a six-figure fine threatened a Florida abortion clinic, its volunteers didn’t hesitate.
In just a few days, Stand With Abortion Now of Orlando, a local advocacy group launched after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade known, has already raised nearly half the $193,000 fine that the state levied against the Center of Orlando for Women, one of just two abortion clinics in the city.
“Florida’s AHCA, the Agency for Healthcare Administration, has levied some pretty outrageous fines against our clinic, basically in an attempt for the state to fine our clinic out of existence,” one of the group’s volunteers, who asked that their name not be used for safety reasons, told Insider.
The volunteers typically help shield patients entering the abortion clinic from anti-abortion activists. They often rely on aliases, wear sunglasses, and use oversized umbrellas to protect their own identities in the contentious line of work.
Florida lawmakers passed a 6-week abortion ban in April, outlawing abortion before most women even know they are pregnant. The law won’t officially go into effect unless the state’s previous 15-week ban is upheld in court.
The fine stems from a 24-hour waiting period law that requires a patient to have two appointments 24 hours apart in order to obtain an abortion …
