Planned Parenthood makes final push to block Florida bill

Planned Parenthood is unleashing an ad campaign worth at least $100,000 to fight a GOP-led defunding effort in Florida that will come to a head next week.

The ad buy is the organization’s largest so far in its yearlong campaign to block Republican attempts to cut funding for the health organization after a series of now-debunked videos accused it of selling fetal tissue for profit.

{mosads}Planned Parenthood is calling the campaign its “final bid” to prevent Florida from enacting a bill that cuts off its state funding and creates new restrictions for abortion providers.

“This bill is one of the most expansive attacks on women’s health care we’ve seen to date,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) must veto the bill by March 26 or it will automatically become law.

Scott is a longtime critic of Planned Parenthood, though his state-ordered investigation of the group’s fetal tissue donation programs found no wrongdoing and resulted in no charges.

In addition to eliminating state funding for Planned Parenthood, the bill would require abortion clinics to meet the same standards as surgical centers and for its doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

Both of the provisions are at the center of a major Supreme Court case involving a three-year-old law in Texas. The ruling on that case will likely come in June.