© 2024 90.7 WMFE. All Rights Reserved.
Public Media News for Central Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Gov. Rick Scott Investigating Florida Planned Parenthood Clinics

Gov. Rick Scott wants to create a counter terrorism task force at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.  (Abe Aboraya, WMFE)
Gov. Rick Scott wants to create a counter terrorism task force at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. (Abe Aboraya, WMFE)

Governor Rick Scott has called for investigations at the 16 sites where Planned Parenthood performs abortions in Florida. That’s after undercover videos show Planned Parenthood officials haggling over the price of fetal tissue in other states.

Scott called the videos troubling, and threatened legal action if any laws have been broken.

"I asked AHCA Secretary Liz Dudek to begin immediately dispatching staff from their licensure office to evaluate the 16 Planned Parenthood offices in Florida that perform abortion procedures to ensure they are in full compliance with the law," Scott wrote in a statement. "If a Planned Parenthood office is not following the law, we will move quickly to take legal and regulatory action against them.

The Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates says it does not have tissue donation programs in Florida.

They accuse the governor of politicizing a medical issue. Planned Parenthood says the videos are heavily edited, and the organization doesn’t profit from donating fetal tissue for research.

“We will, of course, cooperate fully with any investigation, but important medical issues shouldn’t be politicized," wrote Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates Executive Director Laura Goodhue in a statement. "This isn’t what people in our state want our elected officials to spend their time doing.”