Planned Parenthood always tries to find special interest loopholes to ensure they can perform abortions whenever and wherever they want. And this time they wanted to perform abortions twenty minutes from Disney World — the place where nearly 50 million people visit their children every year.
In May, LifeNews reported that Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando purchased an 8,800 sq. ft. building from Orthopaedic Associates for $1.4 million where they intended to perform abortions. Now, a Circuit Judge has prohibited the abortion business from performing abortions at their new facility.
This is because the complex in which the building resides has deed restrictions that prohibit surgical procedures from being performed without permission from other owners. As it turns out, the owners weren’t too keen on an abortion business setting up shop in their complex and they sued Planned Parenthood for violating regulations.
Also, the zoning area where their facility is located is zoned for medical, not surgical offices. But this didn’t stop Planned Parenthood. They bought the property because they were convinced they could find away around these restrictions and perform abortions.
The suit, filed on behalf of the owners of a neighboring cardiovascular-medicine practice in the Oak Commons Medical Park, alleges that Planned Parenthood violates deed restrictions on what services can be offered at the property.
The property owners’ covenants specifically bar an outpatient surgical center, an emergency medical center or a diagnostic imaging center on the site. In addition, the restrictions bar any activity “that is obnoxious to or out of harmony with other developments” on the property.
In the injunction, Circuit Judge John Jordan found there was a “substantial likelihood of proving” that Planned Parenthood, by performing abortions, is in violation of the outpatient-surgical-center provision, and, by performing ultrasounds, is in violation of the diagnostic-imaging provision.
However, pro-abortion advocates immediately accused the judges’ decision as a sneaky anti-abortion plot to use “obscure” property regulations to close providers. Pro-abortion writer for Salon.com, Katie McDonough said, “This is part of a long pattern of such targeting. While state-level efforts to shutter clinics and ban the procedure have received national attention, local efforts to use land use restrictions and real estate transactions to shutter providers can pose an equal threat to access.”
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The most baffling thing about this whole ordeal is that the judge’s decision was based off of regulations that all facilities in Oak Commons Medical Park have to comply with. This isn’t an obscure plot directed at Planned Parenthood; it’s just the rules. But since when did Planned Parenthood care about rules?
They don’t, which is why the community of Kissimmee isn’t too keen on their arrival either. On May 3, 70 physicians ran a full-page ad in the Osceola News Gazette to encourage citizens to join them in their efforts to keep Planned Parenthood out of Kissemmee. Additionally, the Orlando Sentinel ran a poll asking the citizens of the town if Planned Parenthood should open and 72% said no.
Nonetheless, Planned Parenthood has already stated that it will continue its legal battle against the injunction because they want to do everything in their power to protect a woman’s access to “reproductive health care.”
While it isn’t looking too good for Planned Parenthood now, the question still remains: Will they win their legal battle, and if they don’t, how will they stay open without collecting their annual abortion income?
