Florida
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban takes effect as doctors worry women will lose access to health care
Staff Report, Associated Press
Florida’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy has gone into effect, and some doctors are concerned that women in the state will no longer have access to needed health care.
‘Our patients are screwed’: Florida’s ban cuts off abortion access in the South
By Liz Crampton and Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico
Florida has been a refuge for abortion access in the South. Not anymore.
Florida publishes emergency rules outlining medical exceptions to the six-week abortion ban
By Jackie Llanos, Florida Phoenix
“The so-called ‘emergency rules’ issued by (AHCA) today smack of the same political interference we’ve seen from the Legislature and state leaders. We expect it from politicians but it’s particularly disturbing to see this kind of disinformation coming from a state agency charged with protecting our health.”
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban is now in effect. Clinics in the state are scrambling.
By Arek Sarkissian, Politico
Florida’s strict ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy went into effect Wednesday, which clinic operators fear will impact at least 40,000 women a year unless voters agree to overturn the measure in November.
Tears and despair at Florida abortion clinic in final hours before ban
By Caroline Kitchener, Washington Post
When she walked into the abortion clinic Tuesday morning, Kristen thought she’d made it just in time.
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban is forcing pregnant women out of state to find care
By Adaure Achumba, WTSP Tampa Bay
While regulators are focused on conditions that cannot happen after six weeks of pregnancy, pregnant women in different stages and with various conditions are left to explore their options.\
‘Resist the state’: activists teach Floridians to ‘self-manage’ abortions in wake of ban
By Carter Sherman, The Guardian
On Wednesday, the same day Florida banned abortion past six weeks of pregnancy, a small group of young people gathered in a reading room in Gainesville, Florida, to listen to a talk about how to induce your own abortion through pills – and how to support your friends going through abortions.
Will Florida’s strict six-week ban be bypassed by abortion by mail?
By Sam Ogozalek and Christopher O’Donnell, Tampa Bay Times
Florida will this week begin enforcement of a six-week abortion ban, the state’s strictest limits on the procedure in more than 50 years.
Florida’s 6-week ban: New abortion reality ‘unimaginable’ in 2024
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
A longtime Planned Parenthood official in Florida said Wednesday that the organization’s ‘north star’ is to provide care to their patients, regardless of the circumstances.
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban takes effect: Here’s how residents, clinics are already feeling the impact
By Savannah Kuchar and Chris Kenning, USA Today
Inside a one-story clinic about 40 miles from the Georgia border, Kelly Flynn’s staff has provided abortions to women from across the Southeast since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
In Jacksonville, VP Kamala Harris says abortion rights are a fight for freedom
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
A little more than 14 hours after a six-week abortion ban became the law of the land in Florida, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in Jacksonville, where she put the responsibility for the new restrictions directly at the hands of former President Donald Trump.
Florida’s new abortion ban goes into effect, but voters will decide its future
By Max Greenwood, Miami Herald
Democrats and abortion-access advocates have been warning for months of an impending voter backlash against Republicans who backed Florida’s six-week ban on the procedure. Now, it’s time to find out whether they’re right or wrong.
As six-week Florida abortion ban law takes hold, advocates look to ballot
By John Kennedy, Capital Bureau USA Today Network-Florida
Florida’s new law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy takes effect Wednesday, dramatically restricting access in a state where more than 84,000 procedures were performed last year, including those for thousands of women from neighboring states.
Inside the ground game to win Florida abortion referendum votes
By Lori Rozsa, Washington Post
There was standing room only for the volunteers gathered near the University of Florida on a recent afternoon to learn how they could campaign in favor of a referendum to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
Abortion-rights groups have never faced a state like Florida
By Kimberly Leonard and Arek Sarkissian, Politico
President Joe Biden and Florida Democrats have made a lot of noise about trying to reverse the state’s six-week abortion ban, which went into effect on Wednesday.
Trump backs surveillance and prosecution of women to enforce abortion bans
By Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria, Popular Information
As part of an extensive interview with Time Magazine, former President Donald Trump expanded on what abortion access would look like in the United States in a potential second term.
From hospitals to doctors’ offices, the frantic questions women are asking about the new abortion law
By Cindy Krischer Goodman, South Florida Sun Sentinel
On May 1, reproductive care in Florida will change. Anyone more than six weeks pregnant will be prohibited by law from getting an abortion.
Abortion rights group warns pregnant women to avoid Florida, offers workarounds to 6-week ban
By Jesse Scheckner, Florida Politics
If you’re pregnant and care about your physical and mental well-being, it’s best to avoid Florida altogether for the foreseeable future, a state reproductive rights group said.
I’m an emergency room doctor, and Florida’s six-week abortion ban endangers lives
By Juhi Varshney, Miami Herald
I’m an emergency physician in Miami, and I see pregnant patients every day.
At a clinic in Hialeah, immigrants wrestle with Florida’s new abortion ban
Staff Report, NBC News
They hailed from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti. The women who visited a family-owned abortion clinic in a strip mall in Hialeah this week reflected the diverse population of immigrants who call Miami-Dade County home.
Inside an Abortion Clinic Days Before Florida’s Six-Week Ban Takes Effect
By Patricia Mazzei, New York Times
The sky was still dark outside the clinic, but two women were already sitting quietly in the small, beige waiting room while Candace Dye and her staff prepared for an extremely busy morning.
Florida’s Six-Week Abortion Ban Will Ruin Some People Financially
By Melissa Gira Grant, The New Republic
When a new abortion ban goes into effect in Florida this week, it will rob people across the south of one of the last few options they had.
Some say Florida’s 6-week abortion ban doesn’t go far enough
By Randy Rauch, Spectrum News Orlando
Florida’s six-week abortion ban is set to take effect Wednesday, replacing an existing law that allows abortions up to 15 weeks.
In the fight for reproductive rights, no one can save us but ourselves
By Lauren Book, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Mayday! Mayday! As of midnight on May 1, Florida’s dangerous new six-week abortion ban is the law — effectively banning all abortion care in our state and causing doctors, patients and freedom-loving Floridians everywhere to elevate our calls for the passage of Amendment 4 so that we may enshrine abortion rights in the Florida Constitution.
As Florida’s strict abortion ban takes effect, look to November and vote to overturn it
By U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, Palm Beach Post
This week marks the beginning of a dark, life-threatening new chapter for women in Florida.
Could a special session bring lawmakers back to Florida Capitol for abortion, immigration?
By John Kennedy, USA Today Network Capital Bureau-Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis and some Republican lawmakers are talking about holding a special legislative session this month – possibly to enact another strict immigration law and add ballot proposals to November that might complicate the abortion access measure.
Gov. DeSantis signs legislation excusing new mothers from jury duty
By Jesse Scheckner, Florida Politics
New mothers in Florida will no longer have to choose between taking care of their infants and performing their civic duty as jurists.
Babies born early, ill, or dead: Florida spends millions on prevention. Why isn’t it getting better?
By Cindy Krischer Goodman, South Florida Sun Sentinel
When she gets the call, Jennifer Clayton arrives with tissues. She puts her hand on the shoulder of a grieving mother and guides her through the agonizing aftershock of losing a baby born too early, too small, or too fragile to make it to a first birthday.
A frightening tyranny over Florida women
Editorial, South Florida Sun Sentinel
In the novel “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a violent theocracy overthrows the U.S. government, and doctors who perform abortions are hanged. Young women are enslaved to bear children for influential older men.
National
17 states challenge federal rules entitling workers to accommodations for abortion
By Andrew Demillo, Associated Press
Republican attorneys general from 17 states filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging new federal rules entitling workers to time off and other accommodations for abortions, calling the rules an illegal interpretation of a 2022 federal law.
One in Four US Women Expected to Have an Abortion in Their Lifetime
Staff Report, Guttmacher Institute
A new analysis from the Guttmacher Institute’s Abortion Patient Survey estimates that one in four (24.7%) US women of reproductive age1 will have an abortion by age 45 if the 2020 abortion rate remains constant.
The AZ Senate has repealed the 1864 abortion ban, after 2 Republicans join Dems
By Gloria Rebecca Gomez, States Newsroom
A 160-year-old abortion ban written before Arizona became a state that punishes doctors with prison time is now one step away from being repealed after a pair of Republicans in the state Senate on Wednesday crossed party lines to join Democrats in voting it down.
Evidence for Ending the Global Gag Rule: A Multiyear Study in Two Countries
Staff Report, Guttmacher Institute
As a leading funder of global health programs, the United States has the power to make a tremendous impact on people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights
Letters to the editor
Vote yes on Amendment 4
By Patricia Duncan, Fort Myers
Fort Myers News-Press
Registered Florida voters will have the chance this November to vote yes on Amendment 4 to protect the right to abortions before viability. Amendment 4 would not change the current requirement for notification to a parent/guardian before a minor has an abortion. Amendment 4 will not prevent those who want to give birth to do so.
I miscarried and was denied care at first. Will women die in antiabortion states?
By J.K. Hinger
Los Angeles Times
To the editor: The scenario of a miscarrying patient being denied medical treatment is not hypothetical. It’s reality — I know because I lived it.
Allow them to save her life
By M.L. Sheehan, Saint James City
Fort Myers News-Press
To our menfolk: Imagine you’re sitting with your daughter, your sister, perhaps your wife, in an emergency room, and she’s bleeding…Demand they take care of your womenfolk. Vote YES on Amendment Four. Allow them to save her life.
Abortions aren’t meant for politics
By Garry A. Goldstein, MD, Jupiter
Palm Beach Post
Since the early 1930’s the medical profession established certification to insure that those who were properly educated had the expertise to provide patient care in the best and most effective manner possible…Vote to give women the right to choose and preserve the quality of medical care.
High and mighty men defund legal abortions
By David Cohen, Sarasota, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Excerpt: So what we have here is a group of opportunistic men-only who know just what is best for women and for the “people” in general, despite the fact that, Rainford to the contrary, they are not willing to provide more than “muted” comment, as the article suggests.