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Florida doctors sign letter urging health companies to stop donating to anti-abortion politicians

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The letter, sent to companies including United Healthcare, Florida Hospital Association and Florida Blue, says companies need to make a choice between a responsibility to patients and politicians who have "put reproductive health care at risk."

The advocacy group Floridians for Reproductive Freedom says state-based corporations, including health care companies, have donated $1.7 million to anti-abortion lawmakers.

More than two dozen Florida physicians, along with several health care professionals and medical students, have signed a letter the group sent to several health care companies, condemning them for donating money to politicians who supported the state's new abortion law.

The law, passed by the state's Republican-led Legislature this year, bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

"When you support politicians who pass laws that make it so that patients literally can't get the health care they need in Florida, there's no clearer route to undermining the health of the people you are stating that you serve," said Dr. Sujatha Prabhakaran, a Sarasota-based OB-GYN.

Prabhakaran said she's already seeing the implications of Florida's 15-week ban.

"I had a patient who thought that she was 12 weeks, turned out that she was actually 14 weeks and six days, and because there's also a 24-hour waiting period now, we weren't able to provide her care so she had to travel out of state.”
Thirty-eight people, including 26 physicians, signed their names at the end of the letter. Three others in support were not named for "privacy concerns."

The letter was sent last week. To date there has been no response.

Copyright 2022 WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7

Cathy Carter is the education reporter for WUSF 89.7 and StateImpact Florida.