Abortion decision means new fight by abortion-rights advocates in Southwest Florida

The day abortion-rights supporters in Southwest Florida have feared for years arrived.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Friday to overturn the 50-year landmark Roe vs Wade decision that made abortion legal was met with stunned disbelief and dashed hopes it would not happen.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion activists said their prayers have been answered.

As reality set in, present and past leaders of Planned Parenthood clinics in Southwest Florida and women’s rights organizations throughout the state vowed to keep fighting to protect women.

“By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has now officially given politicians across the country the power to control what people can do with their own bodies,” Stephanie Fraim, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said in a statement.

Previous coverage: Doctors say abortion ban at 15 weeks in Florida is 'bad medicine and bad policy'

The crowd of protesters stand on the steps of the Old Lee County Courthouse to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.
The crowd of protesters stand on the steps of the Old Lee County Courthouse to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.

In October: 'Women's rights are human rights': Hundreds gather for women's march in Fort Myers and Naples

“This means millions of Americans will no longer be trusted to determine the course of their own lives.”

Fraim said “this dangerous and chilling decision” will have devastating consequences and will force people who can afford it to travel hundreds of miles or more for abortion care in Florida and other states where at least some access is still protected.

“This ruling eliminates the federal constitutional right to privacy around abortion, but the Florida state constitution still protects that right,” Fraim said. “The Florida 15-week abortion ban, which will go into effect July 1st, is clearly unconstitutional, which is why Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and other plaintiffs are suing to stop it.”

She added: “We will not sit idly by while our freedoms are stripped away like this, we will not stop fighting for our rights.”

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis in mid-April signed into law a 15-week abortion ban that dramatically reduces the window for women to get an abortion from the current law of 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The new Florida law does not provide an exception for rape, incest, human trafficking or mental health.

The only exceptions to the new Florida law is when the mother is at risk of death, "irreversible physical impairment" or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality.

Protesters hold signs on the steps of the Old Lee County Courthouse after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.
Protesters hold signs on the steps of the Old Lee County Courthouse after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.

Char Wendel fears what could come next. She is the former president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Collier County, serving for 18 years, before the merger with the Southwest Florida and Central Florida affiliates.

“This is not only about abortion this is about controlling women,” Wendel said. "I am devastated that the court has decided that women cannot make a choice about how to live their lives. Prohibitions on birth control will be next.”

Abortions were halted at the Naples location at 1425 Creech Road during the COVID-19 pandemic and have yet to restart.

Protests against abortion in Southwest Florida

Under Wendel’s helm, the clinic in Naples began abortions in 2009 when there was no other provider in Collier offering the procedures.

Abortion opponents regularly protested and the staff began offering escorts with umbrellas for women coming to the clinic to protect their privacy. There were incidents of after-hours vandalism and a bomb threat.

Wendel turned the animosity into an opportunity and raised $23,000 to beef up security after part of the front doors were cemented closed in late April 2009.

The Creech Road center always had video cameras outside but after that incident, closed circuit televisions, security officers and extra lighting was added.

In January, several people who were protesting abortion outside of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Fort Myers and blocked the entrance were arrested.

An estimated 35 to 50 protesters were present, and some yelled insults to clinic employees.

Dr. Paul Kardon, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist in Naples who served as president of the board of Planned Parenthood in Collier when abortions began at the Naples clinic, said the Supreme Court’s decision is a grave mistake.

“The country at large is not in favor of it,” he said. “There is a lot of mixing religion and government. This is a giant step backward.”

When he was practicing in New York when abortion became legal in that state in 1971, two years before Roe in 1973, he remembers doing abortions safely and how different it was from earlier when women were getting unsafe abortions.

How many abortions are done in Florida?

For abortion opponents, the decision is embraced and Andrew Shirvell, founder and executive director of Florida Voices for the Unborn, gave “thanks to the Lord” for the decision.

He renewed his request that he made in May, when a draft of the decision was leaked, for DeSantis to call for an immediate special session to consider a complete statutory ban on all abortions in Florida.

“Governor DeSantis and the Legislature cannot continue to be held hostage by what our state courts may or may not do,” he said.

In Florida last year, nearly 80,000 abortions were performed, according to data from the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

A protester holds a sign in front of the Old Lee County Courthouse after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.
A protester holds a sign in front of the Old Lee County Courthouse after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.

The data shows more than 59,000 abortions were listed as elective, for 74% of the total, while nearly 17,000 abortions were done for social or economic reasons and 1,500 were done for the psychological health of the mother.

Father Michael Orsi, with St. Agnes Catholic Church in North Naples, said he was delighted by the court’s action. Orsi has taken part in peaceful protests with other abortion opponents outside of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Naples for years.

“Almost 50 years of prayer and perseverance and finally the court has corrected a terrible, terrible decision,” Orsi said. “It just shows if people are persistent and pray the right thing would be done.”

Going forward the message to Christians is be peaceful if they attend protests organized by abortion rights supporters, he said.

“What we tell Christians to do is peacefully and prayerfully give thanks to God,” he said. “Anytime we talk to Christians (we say) violence can never be part of the equation.”

B.C. Cloutier, president of Action for Life, an anti-abortion organization serving Lee, Collier, Glades and Hendry counties, said the decision was anticipated, especially in light of the leak of the draft decision in May.

“It will save thousands of babies but it won’t stop abortion here or anywhere else,” he said. “It puts the decision in the hands of the people via their elected officials, and that is where the decision should have been.”

Action for Life’s focus, which has 3,000 supporters in Southwest Florida, is to educate people about alternatives to abortion and the court’s decision may bring more attention to adoption, he said.

“I think it is a great alternative,” Cloutier said. “We just launched an initiative to engage young people more fully to try to practice abstinence.”

Protester Helga Cardona speaks in front of the Old Lee County Courthouse after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.
Protester Helga Cardona speaks in front of the Old Lee County Courthouse after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022 in Fort Myers, Fla.

Scott Baier, chief executive officer of Community Pregnancy Clinics, which has locations in Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota and Gainesville, said the mission of helping women and families with a crisis pregnancy will increase.

He also called for abortion supporters to end violence toward organizations like his since the draft decision of the court was leaked in May.

“Many of the pregnancy centers have been vandalized, and others have even been bombed,” he said. “We call for peace and we continue to protect the well-being and safety of our clients and staff. Regardless of the circumstances, CPCI and the thousands of other pregnancy resource centers across the country, will be there to continue helping women and families in crisis.”

Physicians fear for women, families

Dr. Kristen Witkowski, an obstetrician/gynecologist in Tampa, who was vocal earlier this year when Florida lawmakers were debating the 15-week ban and the outfall to women with fetal abnormalities, said Friday, "I feel sick to my stomach but unfortunately I am not surprised."

“For those who think this is a victory for life and for families, it isn't,” she said. “More pregnant women will die and more families will be living in poverty.”

For people who think this just the federal government staying out of it, "it is not," she said. “The government ‘staying out of it’ would be leaving the medical decision making up to patients and their doctors, just like in every other aspect of healthcare.”

Witkowski said anti-abortion legislators will need to work on supporting the families that they claim to care so deeply about.

“I hope men are just as outraged as women and willing to play their part in preventing pregnancy,” she said.” I hope everyone takes their state elections seriously and votes for representatives who will protect women.”

A Woman’s Choice practice with locations in Jacksonville in Florida and in North Carolina in of Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, said the decision disregards that most Americans want access to safe, legal abortion and protections for this extremely personal healthcare decision.

"Today’s decision to overturn 50 years of settled law is a betrayal by the Supreme Court of the United States. A betrayal of pregnant people and their families, liberty, and decency,” Kelly Flynn, president and chief executive officer of A Women’s Choice, said in a statement.

“Abortion is healthcare and today’s decision will not stop people from needing abortions, but it will make it more difficult, sometimes impossible, for people to get the care they need,” Flynn said.

Flynn added that the practice’s mission “will not change in light of this horrific betrayal.”

“We will still provide safe, nonjudgmental, affordable abortions and vow to work tirelessly to ensure that the right to abortion everywhere is restored,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Roe v. Wade decision on abortion means new fight for advocates