Santa Rosa County doesn't have an abortion clinic. One commissioner wants to make sure it never does

In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court leak earlier this year that hinted at a potential overturn of the 1973 case Roe v. Wade — which federally protects the right to an abortion — Santa Rosa County Commissioner James Calkins is spearheading a move to draft a "trigger ordinance" that would prohibit an abortion clinic from operating in the county, contingent on the high court overturning the nearly 50-year-old ruling.

There are currently no abortion clinics in Santa Rosa County.

Calkins made the first public comment on the topic earlier this week, with the intent to bring it up for a commission-wide discussion at Thursday's meeting.

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"If that (Supreme Court decision) happens, that'll give jurisdiction to the states and hopefully, county governments. Now, we have our own state statutes that govern this issue that we have to look into. And we have our own courts in Florida that have precedents and rulings on this issue," Calkins told the News Journal. "My goal was to challenge all those and the ultimate goal is to make sure we do not have an abortion clinic in Santa Rosa County allowed."

The office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, in response to a similar abortion clinic restriction effort in Manatee County last September, issued a letter asserting the county did not have the authority to adopt an ordinance regulating or banning abortion clinics.

Part of the state's response to Manatee County relied on an advisory legal opinion from 1985, in which former Florida Attorney General Jim Smith wrote about the question over whether prohibiting abortion clinics was already preempted by the state.

"Unless and until judicially determined otherwise, I am of the opinion that the state has preempted the field of regulating and licensing abortion clinics, and therefore, municipalities are not authorized to adopt an ordinance regulating (other than reasonable zoning ordinances) or banning such clinics," the 1985 opinion reads.

In 2020, Santa Rosa County officially became Florida's first "pro-life sanctuary" after voters approved a referendum that symbolically declared the county as anti-abortion.

Earlier that year, when discussions among the commissioners were taking place over whether to place the referendum resolution on the commission's agenda, then-Board Chairman Don Salter was the lone "no" vote in a 4-1 decision.

Salter described himself then as a pro-life Republican and told the News Journal this week that is still accurate.

"It's an extremely sensitive issue. There are pros and cons on both sides. It should be decided at the federal (and) state level, and not at a county level," Salter said.

District 5 Commissioner Colten Wright, who was not in office at the time of the referendum, pointed to state preemption as something that could invalidate Calkins' push for the ordinance.

"I think it's important to remember the state of Florida and previous attorney general's rulings show the state of Florida preempts the county's ability to move forward with that type of ordinance. At that point, I think it's a dead issue with that," Wright said.

Abortion also took one of the front-row seats in the state Legislature this past session, namely in the form of HB 167.

The bill would have required a physician to conduct testing and inform a woman seeking an abortion of the presence of a fetal heartbeat. It also would have prohibited a physician from performing an abortion if a heartbeat was detected.

The bill died in the state House's Professions & Public Health Subcommittee in March.

Pensacola houses the only abortion clinic on the Gulf Coast between New Orleans and Tallahassee. Last month, however, the state ordered Pensacola's abortion clinic to close after three women were hospitalized and required major medical intervention to survive.

Lawyers for the American Family Planning clinic on Village Oaks Drive told the News Journal they intended to appeal the May 21 Agency for Healthcare Administration's emergency order.

The clinic's lawyer argued that American Family Planning has treated thousands of patients and while there were problems with three cases involving one doctor of the 10 who work at the clinic, she believed ACHA overreached in its order to shut down the entire clinic.

Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration releases annual data on induced terminations of pregnancies. In 2021, there were over 79,000 abortions in Florida. Of those, 237 of the women were from Santa Rosa County.

Calkins said he recognizes there is a wide range of opinions on the issue, but noted, "I believe that we won't be the only county that pursues these kinds of things. I believe that we're just going to be a part of a wider scale, but I believe Santa Rosa could be the first domino."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Roe v. Wade leak prompts push to ban abortion clinics in Santa Rosa FL