A Hialeah abortion clinic and state regulators have reached a settlement in a case alleging that the clinic did not properly comply with a law that requires providing information to women at least 24 hours before abortions.
The settlement, posted Wednesday on the state Division of Administrative Hearings website, requires A Hialeah Woman’s Care Center, Inc., to pay a $15,500 fine. The state Agency for Health Care Administration initially sought to impose a $21,000 fine.
The agency last year filed a series of complaints against abortion clinics alleging they had not properly complied with a 24-hour waiting period law. After years of battles about the constitutionality of the law, a Leon County circuit judge upheld the waiting-period requirement in April 2022.
The law requires women to receive information from doctors and then wait at least 24 hours before having abortions. The newly settled case included allegations that the Hialeah clinic in April and May 2022 did not document times when abortions were performed.
“The documentation was required to establish that the physician who was to perform the procedure or the referring physician, had at a minimum, orally, while physically present in the room, and at least 24 hours before the procedure informed the patient of the risks set out in (part of the law),” the agency’s initial complaint said. “Absent such documentation, there was no record that the clinic obtained each patient's informed consent to the procedure.”
The settlement said the clinic denies the allegations.