A Florida abortion clinic may have escaped punishment this week after state investigators accused it of performing second trimester abortions in violation of its state license.
A judged ruled on Thursday that the state did not present enough evidence to prove that the Bread & Roses abortion clinic in Gainesville violated the law, according to the Gainesville Sun.
The state uncovered the incident at Bread & Roses as part of a larger state investigation into the abortion industry, prompted by multiple expose’ videos that caught the Planned Parenthood abortion business selling the body parts of aborted babies.
The report has more details about the case:
“AHCA presented no testimony or documentary evidence refuting the credible evidence presented by Bread & Roses that the sonograms show on their face that the pregnancies for each of the five procedures at issue were first trimester pregnancies and within the scope of Bread & Roses’ license,” [Judge Lawrence P.] Stevenson wrote.
The fines would have cost the clinic $500 for each of the five procedures, or $2,500.
The agency based its complaint on the fact that documentation in the five cases did not include the dates of the women’s last normal menstrual periods. The files showed how many weeks of pregnancy were indicated by ultrasound procedures, which the clinic’s owner and director, Kristin Davy, said was standard practice.
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Ms. Davy further testified that Bread & Roses had been submitting its reports to AHCA in the same manner for the 10 years in which it has restricted its license to first trimester abortions,” Stevenson wrote. “AHCA presented no evidence to counter Ms. Davy’s credible testimony that Bread & Roses had been submitting its (monthly summary) reports in the same manner for the previous 10 years without incident. AHCA presented no evidence to explain why it suddenly believed that Bread & Roses’ (monthly summary) reports showed that the clinic was performing second-trimester abortions.”
… Stevenson’s ruling Thursday is a recommended order, which, under administrative law, goes to the agency. The judge recommended that the agency dismiss the complaint against Bread & Roses.
During the state health department investigations, inspectors found similar violations at other abortion facilities. LifeNews reported that state officials found three Planned Parenthood abortion facilities performed abortion procedures outside the scope of their licenses and one has not kept proper records on disposing fetal remains. However, the state officials stopped pursuing the case against these abortion facilities in March. In an unusual move, the state agency claimed that Gov. Rick Scott’s new restrictions on abortion would make doing so redundant, though the regulations do not go into effect until July.
Officials also found another abortion clinic not affiliated with Planned Parenthood breaking state law. That abortion clinic paid a $3,000 fine for doing the illegal abortions, according to a local news report.
