I received an email from Planned Parenthood today telling me about Florida Senate Bill 444, which is a bill that would require the Florida Department of Health to have a contract with Florida Pregnancy Care Network, Inc, a network of what many care calling Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Florida. The goal of these places is to “encourage childbirth.” This bill would effectively make it the state government’s role to facilitate the encouragement of childbirth (and therefore, the discouragement of abortion). To combat this, Planned Parenthood has asked all Florida residents to contact the Florida Senate Health Policy Committee, who will be voting on this on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. The members, and their contact, are as follows:

Chair: Sen. Dana D. Young (850) 487-5018
Vice Chair: Sen. Kathleen Passidomo (850) 487-5028
Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto (850) 487-5027
Sen. Dorothy L. Hukill (850) 487-5014
Sen. Travis Hutson (850) 487-5007
Sen. Bill Montford (850) 487-5003

I was able to contact Senator Dana Young’s Office via phone, but when i contacted Senator Kathleen Passidomo’s Office, they asked me to submit my opposition via their online contact form. I wrote a letter, quickly, to express my opposition. It can be found below. Please feel free to borrow from it.

 

Senator Passidomo,

I am contacting as a resident of the State of Florida to express my opposition to the SB 444. As the Co-Chair of the Florida Senate Health Policy Committee, I would expect you to want to encourage the health and success of your constituents. A well educated person knows that health comes in many forms, not just physical. The Senate Bill 444 threatens the mental, physical, social, and financial health of all of Florida’s residents.

 

I am primarily concerned with the fact that this bill requires the Health Department to have a contract with Florida Pregnancy Care Network, Inc. I do not believe it is in the best interest of Florida’s population to force a government contract with a group that is unwilling to provide the appropriate information. As much as I would love for the world to be filled with more amazing people, refusing to provide or acknowledge pregnancy termination services will negatively affect overall public health.

 

As Co-Chair of the Health Policy Committee, I hope I do not need to remind you that access to accurate, thorough information on all aspects of pregnancy, including ways to terminate, has positive benefits on public health. This is particularly true in more low income and rural areas, where overall access to healthcare in general is lacking. Florida has many areas like this.

 

I do not believe it is appropriate for the State Health department to “contract with the network for the management and delivery of pregnancy support services to eligible clients.” This wording effectively makes it the Health Department’s responsibility to provide this specific information, while not providing other information. It could, potentially, cut off the department from working with other groups and providing effective community healthcare. At best, it is ambiguously worded, at worst it is a formal and direct proclamation that the health department does not care about providing comprehensive health care services, be they clinical, educational, or otherwise, to the residents of the state.

 

Thank you for choosing not to support this bill. Doing so would be a betrayal of the state and its residents.

 

Sincerely,

Sean Conklin

Palm Beach County

Boynton Beach

After sending this letter to her, i decided to look a little more into Florida Pregnancy Care Network, Inc. What I found – or did not find – was unnerving. I could find an address, but no other contact information. No website, so name to associate with it. Searching for the name on google provides you with a location and a website for Florida Pregnancy Support Services. This may be the same group, though nowhere on the webpage can i find the phrase Florida Pregnancy Care Network, Inc. I wish is aw this before, because this is a huge red flag. This information needs to be public so constituents can know who their government can potentially be trusting with their health care.

Take a stand against this ridiculousness and contact these Senators!