MIAMI — It was a busy day as usual at a family planning clinic tucked away in Miami's Golden Glades neighborhood, two days after the Florida Supreme Court upheld a law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. What made this day seem unusual was that many women were alarmed and “dismayed” by the ban.
“An hour ago, a patient who was eight or nine weeks pregnant was worried that we were going to kick her out,” said Dr. Chelsea Daniels, a family planning physician. Ta. “There's a lot of confusion and fear.”
Since news of the ban, which will go into effect May 1, broke on Monday, Daniels has been in her office going back and forth between formalities and media interviews.
Florida is one of the last states in Southeast Florida where abortion is still widely available, providing abortion services not only to Floridians but also to those living in neighboring states where abortions were already restricted or banned. provided.
More than 9,300 people traveled to Florida from other states last year to receive abortion care, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion access. This is more than double the number in 2020.
But of the 80,000 abortions performed in the state last year, the majority were still for Floridians, Daniels said.
Pregnant people are feeling confused and anxious right now.
A 20-year-old abortion seeker who asked to remain anonymous while waiting to see a doctor at a family planning organization told NBC News that even though the new law allows abortion in cases of rape or incest, many women still He said it would be “forced.” To take care of an unwanted child. ”
“Most people don't want to go to the police and show evidence that they were raped,” she says.
A 29-year-old woman at the clinic, who also requested anonymity, said she was recovering from surgery and only heard about the ban the day before.
“I was confused,” she said. “I couldn't understand how something like this could happen.”
Daniels said the majority of patients who seek Planned Parenthood's services are more than six weeks pregnant, and many don't even know they're pregnant at that point. The average patient is in their late 20s to early 30s, usually already has children, and often has a partner.
“These bans are especially bad for certain people, and I think legislators and judges know that,” Daniels said. “If you had the resources and privilege to buy a ticket and take a three-hour flight to Virginia and Maryland, you could still get an abortion. But there are many people who don't have those resources or privileges. So this particularly affects Black and brown people, people who are undocumented, people with language barriers, people with disabilities, and people who don't have the means to get care elsewhere.”
Neighboring states have passed similar bans, so North Carolina is currently the closest state to allow abortions beyond six weeks, but even there it is only legal up to 12 weeks. Beyond that, Virginia would be the next closest state where abortion is legal up to 26 weeks.
Health care providers are concerned that northern and western states do not have adequate infrastructure to support large areas of the country that have restricted abortions.
“This is a truly devastating time for abortion-seekers seeking to secure safe and legal abortions. And it will be important to continue to advocate for the fact that there are options,” said South, East and North Florida. said Lillian Tamayo, who served as president and CEO of the family planning organization for 22 years.
Tamayo is a spokesperson for Charley, a chatbot launched in 2023 by Planned Parenthood's former CEO Cecile Richards and former chief strategy officer Tom Subak. This chatbot provides up-to-date information on abortion options for every zip code in the United States in English or Spanish. How to get pills by mail with anonymous access.
Supporters of loosening restrictions on abortion are hopeful that the tide will turn in favor of abortion access in November. The Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday that Florida voters can override the six-week ban by banning abortions before the fetus is viable, which is thought to be around 24 weeks of gestation, making this a state policy. The court ruled that the decision whether to make it a part of the government could be decided through a vote. Constitution.
Some Democrats see the abortion voting bill as opening up a path to states that are certain to be red and that Democrats and donors around the country haven't poured money into. After the abortion ruling, the Biden campaign said Florida was “winnable” and included it in an ad buy criticizing President Trump on abortion rights.
Since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, voters have supported abortion rights in seven states, including right-wing Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio. Floridians will grapple with strict new abortion regulations in the months leading up to the election.
Cheyenne Cleland, a pre-med student at the University of Miami, said that while the ban wasn't a big topic among students she knows on campus, seeing abortion on the ballot motivated her to vote in November. He said it has gotten even higher.
“I'm a Christian myself, so I don't have abortions,” Cleland said. “But banning it affects our rights. We're going backwards. There should be a choice.”
Democrats will need to spend money in Florida reminding voters about the November ballot measures and motivating them to vote. There were no large protests in Miami-Dade, the state's most populous and traditionally blue county, following Monday's court ruling. Gov. Ron DeSantis became the first Republican governor to win the county in 20 years.
Still, people expressed concerns about the decision.
“Abortion is medical care,” said Lois Lohr, 24, who works at a spa. “That should be discussed with your health care provider and not for the state to decide.”
