This week, a six-week abortion ban went into effect in Florida, a change that impacts women throughout the Gulf South. Many women don’t yet know they are pregnant at that point.
Before the ban, Florida had offered more access to abortions than many states in the region with laws allowing termination of pregnancy up to 15 weeks. For example, Louisiana only allows abortions for certain reasons.
According to Florida health department data cited by CNN, nearly 8,000 people traveled from out of state to receive an abortion in Florida last year. That number has increased since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and opened the door for restrictive abortion laws across the country.
Recent findings from the Guttmacher Institute found that more than 1 million abortions occurred in the U.S. healthcare system last year, the first full calendar year since the Dobbs ruling. That’s a 10% increase since 2020. During this spike in abortions, the Louisiana Abortion Fund gave out over $1 million to clients, according to WWNO.
A list provided by the Guttmacher Institute last December said that Florida was the only state in the region offering care after 12 weeks. From January to June of last year, abortions in the state increase by 15% compared to 2020.
“Around 84,000 abortions were performed in Florida last year, about one in 12 nationwide,” NBC News reported this week.
As Floridians braced for the new ban to kick in, a clinic in Jacksonville called A Woman’s Choice had been seeing two to four times as many patients in the days leading up to Wednesday.
“I know my daughter and myself are waking up tomorrow with less rights than we do today,” said Candace, a 36-year-old woman who learned about the new restrictions when she called the clinic for abortion care.
In addition to the restriction on weeks, Florida law requires that people seeking an abortion have an in-person visit for an ultrasound, lab work and meeting with a physician at least 24 hours before their appointment. Sometimes they have to wait so long that their lab work expires and the process starts over, said CNN.
Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a statement about Florida’s abortion ban Wednesday.
“Donald Trump handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe. And as he intended, they did,” said Harris. She said Trump is to blame for the 20-plus states that now have abortion bans.
While Harris called the Florida ban a “Trump” abortion ban, the former president has even criticized it. When lawmakers passed the legislation last year, he said it was “too harsh,” per an Audacy report.
Even as more states put abortion bans in place, the Guttmacher Institute estimates that 13% of women in the U.S. are likely to have an abortion by age 25. A recent Planned Parenthood poll found that nearly 70% of U.S. adults are concerned about abortion access in the U.S., including 56% of people who identify as conservative.
Public opinion regarding abortion access is something Audacy reported Democrats and President Joe Biden hope will work in their favor during elections this year, as it did during the 2022 midterms.