Inside a one-story clinic about 60 miles from the Georgia state line, Kelly Flynn’s staff has been providing abortions to women from across the Southeast since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. .
But on Tuesday, the Women’s Choice Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., was seeing the last patient who was exempted from Florida’s strict new abortion law, which takes effect Wednesday. The law prohibits most abortions after about six weeks, before many people realize they are pregnant.
Some came from Mississippi and Louisiana. Flynn said one of her clients is a college student who found out she was pregnant last week, prompting her to make a quick decision as she and others scramble to get care ahead of the new law. It is said that he did.
“‘You know, I’m a college student. I’m not ready for that yet,'” Flynn said the student told her.
The Florida Supreme Court gave the green light to the state’s new regulations in April. Currently, people seeking abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy are redirected to clinics in North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, or other states, often taking time off from work, receiving childcare, and They are forced to fight a daunting battle to pay the high costs. trip.
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A Florida court last month also cleared the way for a constitutional amendment to be placed on the November ballot that protects access to abortion up to the term of life, in most cases about 24 weeks.
While the outcome of the measure could override the state’s current restrictions, abortion advocates and providers told USA TODAY that the law’s impact in the meantime could extend beyond the state to other parts of the South. It is expected that this will spread even further.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis praised the bill for a widespread abortion ban, saying last month that Florida is “proud to support lives and families.”
Florida residents face immediate consequences
In Florida, abortions are restricted after 15 weeks, and the deadline DeSantis signed into law in 2022 ended nearly 50 years of abortion access in the country after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Ta. Florida’s 15-week curfew, while stricter than the restrictions set by Roe, exceeds what many neighboring southeastern states would allow and is more common for out-of-state patients. It is a great access point.
The new law includes exceptions for rape and incest, provided documents such as restraining orders and police reports can be produced. The ban also prohibits mailing abortion pills.
In 2023, about 84,000 abortions were performed in Florida, with more than 4,200 performed in Duval County, where the Jacksonville Women’s Choice Clinic is located, according to state data. Flynn expects that number to decline, and experts now expect more women to travel for surgeries in Florida.
For patients measuring beyond 6 weeks in the coming days, Dr. Flynn says: Your options are to go to North Carolina or to Virginia. ”
Dr. Katherine Farris, chief medical officer of the South Atlantic Division, a family planning organization that covers North and South Carolina, West Virginia and the western half of Virginia, said the process can be burdensome for many people. He said he was deaf.
“Patients have to travel beyond states with outright bans like Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, which have similar bans to Florida, to North Carolina, Virginia, and parts of the Northeast with fewer restrictions. “I won’t have to. I’ll have an abortion,” she said.
The Abortion Fund has helped women across the country secure airline tickets, gas money, and work and parental leave to travel for abortions. But Flynn worries that limited funds could soon be overwhelmed.
However, while Florida law prohibits doctors from prescribing abortion pills or mailing abortion pills to people through telemedicine, many residents use telemedicine outside the state to obtain the drugs. You will be able to receive it by mail. Cheyenne Drews, deputy director of communications for the nonprofit Progress Florida, said it is thought to be difficult to stop.
Florida joins other parts of the South to ban abortion
Farris said abortion regulations in the South have been “absolutely devastating” since Roe’s policies were overturned.
“The ban is causing confusion,” she said.
But abortion opponents are celebrating the Sunshine State’s new law and what it means for the region, said Caitlin Conner, southern regional director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. .
“I don’t think Florida voters wanted Florida to be known as an abortion destination,” Connors said. “Florida will now join the rest of the states in the Southeast, but also states across the country that have adopted this protection.”
Florida’s law makes it the only two southern states to allow abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. North Carolina allows abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions, while Virginia prohibits abortions in the second trimester or around the 27th week of pregnancy.
Ahead of Florida’s new law taking effect Wednesday, Connors told USA TODAY that mothers and families and American voters “understand the humanity of unborn children.”
Voters will decide on abortion restrictions in 2024
Anna Hochkamer, executive director of the Florida Women’s Liberation Coalition, one of many groups supporting the state’s planned abortion voting bill, said the new ban is something most Floridians want. He believed that it had exceeded the norm and claimed that it was “out of line”.
A USA TODAY/Ipsos poll last month found that 50% of Florida voters said they supported an abortion protection amendment, which would require a 60% majority to pass.
Voters will have a chance to consider the state’s proposed constitutional amendment when it appears on the ballot this fall.
Hochkamer predicted that while the issue is divisive among many Floridians, the six-week ban could tip the scales in favor of abortion rights advocates.
“This is no longer about trying to tell people about the consequences of really bad policy assumptions. They’re going to live with the consequences of a near-total abortion ban,” she argued.
Even if Florida voters choose to protect abortion rights in the state constitution, that doesn’t mean the state law will immediately be overturned, said Florida Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Democrat. Ta.
“If this amendment is passed, it’s not going to change things overnight, it could be in November,” Book told reporters on Tuesday. “This is a reality that women and girls will have to live with for quite some time until change occurs.”
