WaPo: “An Orlando abortion clinic facing $193,000 in state fines has raised more than $200,000 in a crowdfunding effort that will keep one of the city’s last clinics open.
Florida health regulators announced last month that the Center of Orlando for Women repeatedly violated a law that requires women to wait 24 hours before having an abortion in the days after the law took effect. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) ordered the clinic to pay $1,000 for each of the 193 violations, a total of $193,000 that was nearly three times more than a judge’s recommendation.
But when Julie Gallagher, the clinic’s attorney, wrote in a court document that a fine of that size “would likely force the clinic into bankruptcy or closure,” supporters and activists started an online fundraiser to try to save the Center of Orlando for Women.
They did just that: The fundraising effort had raised more than $211,000 as of Monday morning. Nearly 6,000 people have given to the verified fundraiser on Give Butter, a crowdfunding site for nonprofits. The fundraiser was organized by Stand with Abortion Now, a volunteer organization that escorts patients into the clinic.”