Abortion has not been available in Collier, FL, since 1996 when Dr. Wallace McLean stopped performing it because of opponents protesting outside his Naples office and his home. Since then, women have had to travel to Miami or Fort Myers for an abortion. Planned Parenthoods in Sarasota, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Miami and West Palm Beach offer abortion services but that’s not the case for all Planned Parenthood clinics in Florida. For instance, Planned Parenthood in Fort Myers does not do clinical abortions but it does offer the abortion pill. By the end of 2010, all will be doing abortions. Collier, Planned Parenthood has hired a Cape Coral physician, Dr. Philip Waterman, to perform the outpatient procedure. He does abortions at other Planned Parenthood sites in the state.
Patients must schedule appointments and abortions will only be done on Mondays. No other medical services will be offered on that day. The cost for an abortion will be $475 and insurance will be accepted. A sliding scale fee will be available to uninsured women based on income. The Collier clinic will do abortions in cases of rape and incest but will not accept Medicaid for reimbursement, which in Florida pays when the crime has been proven. Starting in October, the clinic will offer the abortion pill, which can be used up to the ninth week of pregnancy. Naples News
Editor: This article contains a surprising -- and helpful -- amount of detail.
No comments:
Post a Comment