In Florida, a Blow to the Pro-Life Movement — & the Law

[Valin]

National Review:

Ian Tuttle

August 19, 2016

 

Florida citizens familiar with the way their state government works might be confused. Before Thursday, the budget was administered by the legislature, as is designated by the state’s constitution. But as of Thursday, the budget is apparently run by federal judge Robert Hinkle.

 

On Thursday, Hinkle permanently blocked a law, passed this spring, barring state money from any Florida organizations that provide abortions. In June, just hours before the law was scheduled to go into effect, Hinkle — a Clinton appointee — granted Planned Parenthood Southwest’s request for an injunction. Subsequently, Florida governor Rick Scott and his legal team backed off their defense of the law, entering a joint motion with the plaintiffs to end the litigation and paving the way for Hinkle to make his decision definitive.

 

Hinkle’s is the latest in a series. An Ohio law that directs the state’s health department to “ensure” that funds it receives through various programs not be used to perform or promote nontherapeutic abortions (or contract with any entity that does) was temporarily blocked in May. And last month, a three-judge panel blocked Utah governor Gary Herbert’s directive to state agencies “to cease acting as an intermediary for pass-through federal funds” to the state’s Planned Parenthood affiliate.

 

But Hinkle’s ruling is the pinnacle (so far), in terms of judicial ingenuity. Hinkle writes: “Under the defunding provision, as a condition of receiving state or local funds for unrelated services, the plaintiffs must stop providing abortions that women are constitutionally entitled to obtain.” This is, he says, a clear-cut violation of the unconstitutional-conditions doctrine, a bundle of Supreme Court precedents that, taken together, prevent the government from forcing a recipient of federal funding into surrendering a constitutionally protected right in order to receive funding.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

More Here At LifeNes

 

 

 

The state could still appeal the ruling, but Jackie Schutz, a spokeswoman for Scott, would not say if the administration would do that. She said instead the governor’s office was reviewing Hinkle’s decision although she added that “Scott is a pro-life governor who believes in the sanctity of life.” Nonetheless, any appeal could be limited because the state cannot make any new arguments or offer additional evidence.