Florida governor signs bill defunding Planned Parenthood

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has signed one of the strongest anti-abortion-rights laws in the country, setting off what is likely to be a lengthy legal battle.

Scott signed the closely watched legislation this weekend, just one day before it would have automatically became law. The bill strips state funding from Planned Parenthood, while also imposing strict new limits on abortion providers and doctors. Many of the same restrictions were passed in Texas in 2013, and are now being challenged in the Supreme Court.

{mosads}Scott did not say why he had signed the legislation, which was approved along with 67 other bills.

The politically explosive legislation was approved over the strong objections of Planned Parenthood, which has already indicated it would take the issue to court.

Last week, the group’s president, Cecile Richards, called the bill “one of the most expansive attacks on women’s health care we’ve seen to date.”

The group launched an ad campaign worth at least $100,000 calling on Scott to block the bill.

It was Planned Parenthood’s largest ad buy 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.