Hialeah abortion clinic, state reach settlement
TALLAHASSEE - A Hialeah abortion clinic and state regulators have reached a settlement over allegations that the clinic did not show that it provided required information to women at least 24 hours before abortions.
The clinic, A GYN Diagnostic Center, will pay $7,000 under the settlement, according to documents posted this week on the state Division of Administrative Hearings website. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration initially sought to impose a $41,000 fine.
"By executing this agreement, respondent (the clinic) denies the allegations raised in the administrative complaint ... and the agency asserts the validity of the allegations raised in the administrative complaint," the settlement said.
The dispute stemmed, in part, from a 2015 state law that requires women to receive information from doctors and then wait at least 24 hours before having abortions.
After years of battles about the constitutionality of the law, a Leon County circuit judge upheld the waiting-period requirement in April.
The Agency for Health Care Administration, which regulates abortion clinics, alleged that it reviewed records at the Hialeah facility on May 17 and could not find documentation that 41 patients had received the required information. It sought to fine the clinic $1,000 for each of the patients. But the clinic disputed the allegations, with the case going to the Division of Administrative Hearings in August.
