Planned Parenthood seeks injunction against Florida health agency

Source: Reuters

Planned Parenthood sought an emergency legal injunction on Monday against Florida health officials to block the use of what it says are "new and unpublished" standards to define pregnancy gestation periods.

The legal move filed in circuit court in Tallahassee comes after Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott ordered a probe last month of the state's 16 Planned Parenthood locations which resulted in three clinics being cited Aug. 5 for illegally performing abortions in the second trimester.

Planned Parenthood said the abortions in questions were first trimester abortions and that the state had arbitrarily changed the way it measures the first trimester, shortening it to 12 weeks from 14.

Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers have called for Planned Parenthood to be investigated and its federal funding eliminated after two videos that critics said showed the reproductive healthcare group is involved in the illegal sale of aborted fetal tissue.

<more>

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/17/us-usa-plannedparenthood-florida-idUSKCN0QM1VN20150817