Florida
How to navigate Florida’s six-week abortion ban
By Kathryn Varn, Axios
Related: What a Florida health agency gets wrong about the abortion ban
While the new six-week ban is Florida’s toughest abortion restriction in more than 50 years, there are still options for Floridians seeking the procedure.
Florida groups warn abortion rights amendment won’t pass without money to sway undecided voters
By Carmen Sesin, NBC News
Some Florida groups that support abortion rights are concerned that a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution and invalidate the recently enacted six-week abortion ban may not pass in November if more donor money is not pumped into these organizations to raise awareness and turn out voters.
Abortion rights amendment has 61% support, Florida Chamber poll says
By Gabrielle Russon, Florida Politics
Amendment 4 has enough support to win in November, but there is a tight race ahead, according to a new Florida Chamber of Commerce poll.
Florida clarified abortion rules after enacting ban. Doctors say it’s “gaslighting” and unhelpful
By Nicole Karlis, Salon
Excerpt: “It’s trying to hide from the public that they’ve created a maternal health crisis. They don’t want the public to know that, because of these laws, women are going to die. Women are going to have to go out of state and die, and it really hits the vulnerable communities hard. And they don’t want that information out there.”
I’m a Doctor Who Swore a Hippocratic Oath. Florida Is Forcing Me to Break It.
By Chelsea Daniels, U.S. News & World Report
Last week, the strictest ban on abortion in Florida’s history went into effect. It’s now illegal to terminate a pregnancy after six weeks – before many people even realize they’re pregnant.
Abortion rights advocates warn that Florida women seeking an abortion must travel hours out of state
By Gabrielle Russon, Florida Politics
Under Florida’s new six-week abortion ban, women needing abortions are forced to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina — the closest city to the Sunshine State’s borders that offers the medical procedure.
Some doctors say Florida’s abortion ban exceptions aren’t enough
By Stephanie Colombini, WUSF Tampa
Opponents of Florida’s six-week abortion ban say the emergency rules issued by state health officials this week to clarify some medical exceptions don’t go far enough.
Hundreds gather for panel on abortion access in Florida ahead of Amendment 4 vote
By Hayley Crombleholme, WESH Orlando
Hundreds packed the Winter Park Events Center Wednesday to hear what’s changed and what’s next when it comes to abortion access in Florida.
Local pregnancy centers use false, outdated, misleading info to deter access to abortion, contraception
By Norine Dworkin, VoxPopuli
When you visit the website for the Life Choices Medical Clinic in Altamonte Springs, you’re immediately greeted by a pop-up video of a cheery woman wearing a white lab coat.
How DeSantis plans to fight marijuana and abortion on the ballot
By Alexandria Glorioso, Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t be on the ballot this November, but he won’t be on the sidelines, either.
Many Florida women can’t get abortions past 6 weeks. Where else can they go?
Staff Report, Associated Press
When Florida enacted its six-week abortion ban last week, clinics in several other Southern and mid-Atlantic states sprang into action, knowing women would look to them for services no longer available where they live.
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban could set up clash with shield law states
By Liz Szabo, NBC News
With Florida’s six-week abortion ban now in place, telehealth appointments with out-of-state physicians and mail-order abortion pills could play increasingly important roles in allowing women there to safely end their pregnancies.
South Florida prosecutors aren’t saying if they’ll enforce state’s strict new abortion ban
By Noreen Marcus, Florida Bulldog
Going by the book, anyone who violates Florida’s new six-week abortion ban commits a felony and faces up to five years in prison or a $5,000 fine.
In the fight for reproductive rights, no one can save us but ourselves
By Lauren Book, Orlando 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.
Judge sets hearing on financial ‘statement’ for November ballot on abortion
Staff Report, News Service of Florida
A Leon County circuit judge has scheduled a hearing June 5 in a lawsuit over a “financial impact statement” that would be presented to voters in November with a proposed constitutional amendment that seeks to ensure abortion rights.
If Florida’s abortion rights amendment passes, courts will weigh parental consent question
By Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact
Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., warned parents about a state abortion amendment that would expand legal access to abortion and overrule a six-week abortion ban that went into effect May 1.
DeSantis, GOP Legislature and handpicked Supreme Court drag Florida backwards
By Barrington Salmon, Florida Phoenix
May 1 or May Day is a European festival rooted in the ancient past that celebrates the beginning of summer. In Florida however, May 1, 2024 was a day of mourning because it will be forever seen as the first day of Florida’s heartless and dangerous six-week abortion ban.
Abortion and the rule of law on the Florida Supreme Court
By George Felos, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Having argued landmark privacy cases before the Florida Supreme Court, I’m saddened to see the court rule that a woman’s ability to have an abortion is no longer protected under the Florida Constitution.
How they voted on Florida’s six-week abortion ban
Editorial, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida has now one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws — a ban on abortions after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant.
National
The 1864 abortion law is officially repealed, but when it takes effect remains uncertain
By Gloria Rebecca Gomez, Arizona Mirror
With a stroke of a pen on Thursday, Gov. Katie Hobbs struck down a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban.
First Quarter 2024 State Policy Trends: An Evolving Focus of Attacks on Abortion, Youth Access, IVF and More
Staff Report, Guttmacher Institute
Activity in state legislative sessions in the first quarter of 2024 has demonstrated what advocates for sexual and reproductive health and rights have long known to be true: policymakers opposed to reproductive freedom will not stop at banning and restricting abortion.
Anti-Abortion Laws Linked To Increase In Domestic Violence Deaths, Study Shows
By Alanna Vagianos, HuffPost
The study, published Monday in a leading peer-reviewed health care journal Health Affairs, looked at data from 2014 to 2020 to analyze the link between anti-abortion laws and intimate partner violence before the Dobbs decision that repealed Roe v. Wade.
Exclusive: Democratic state attorneys general are teaming up to protect abortion access
By Shefali Luthra, The 19th
A group of Democratic attorneys general are working to strengthen state-level protections for abortion, contraception and gender-affirming care.
Letters to the editor
Want less government? Vote for abortion rights
By Candy Banks, Jupiter, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Excerpt: I am a senior citizen, so I remember reading about those horror stories more than 50 years ago. If you are young, you might not appreciate the pain and harm that both women and girls suffered before they had safe choices available for extremely difficult personal decisions…On Election Day, Nov. 5, please vote “Yes on 4” to end the six-week ban and allow our fellow citizens to make decisions about their own bodies without government interference. If you support less government, then vote yes on Amendment 4.
Vote yes on Amendment 4
By Patricia Howard, Naples, Fort Myers News-Press
Florida state health officials recently issued emergency rules clarifying what medical conditions qualify for exceptions to the six-week abortion ban…As a result of the backlash of public opinion there is an attempt to “soft pedal” their abortion stance while balancing the demands of the base that insist on abortion bans. The principle guiding this change is not about medical care but electability…Vote YES on Amendment 4.
Abortion ban consequences
Stacie M. Kiner, Hypoluxo, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Excerpt: Now that Florida has enacted a six-week abortion ban, what provisions have been established for the care of the unwanted children many women will now be forced to have? Is the state of Florida going to care for these kids, feed them, school them and love them?