Reproductive Rights News Roundup – December 19th 2025

Dear friends,

Here we find ourselves, reading the final Floridians for Reproductive Freedom coalition blog of 2025. Looking back through the past 12 months, we are reminded why this movement has been able to endure through generations before us and why, in spite of everything, we have reason to hope.

Today, we thank:

Our health care providers and community support networks, from Planned Parenthood to independent providers, physicians, clinic staff, and volunteer escorts who have worked overtime to provide patients with compassionate health care. Doulas and midwives have modeled what people-centered, wraparound support can look like, and communities have stepped up to provide mutual aid when systems have failed us.
Abortion funds, who have helped thousands of patients leave the state for care, bring a friend with them to their appointments, reschedule missed flights, find a hotel nearby, and have an ally through an overly complicated process. If you need a last minute gift for someone, please consider donating to an abortion fund in their name.
Storytellers, whether in legislative committee rooms or in intimate living rooms, we have changed hearts and minds through the power of our personal experiences.
Volunteers, from lawyers supporting young people in the courts to pilots flying patients and providers to health care facilities, small businesses and places of worship hosting repro kits on their counters and in their restrooms, and students educating their peers, this movement is fueled by people power.

For all that’s yet to come in 2026, may we remember that we’ll each carry what we can and that across the state and beyond, others are doing the same in solidarity in order to make this work possible.

We hope that whatever refuels you, people, pets, or places, that it’s in abundance this holiday season.

We’ll see you in 2026!

Events & Volunteer Opportunities

Florida Legislative Forum w/Digital Democracy Project
Tue, Jan 6, 2026, 7:00pm–8:00pm EST
Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 7:00pm–8:00pm EST

Reproductive Rights Film Screening & Action Team Meeting – IN PERSON w/League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area
Thursday, January 8th, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST

3803 Haines Rd. N., St. Petersburg, FL 33703

CPC Community Education Forum w/ ReclaimChoiceFL, Youth Action Fund, and Planned Parenthood of Florida

Tuesday, January 13th, 6:30pm – 8:00pm EST

Power in Action: Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Advocacy Training w/Repro TLC and Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP)
Thursday, January 15th, 7:00pm – 9:00pm EST

Naples MLK Parade and Celebration w/Planned Parenthood of Florida
Monday, January 19th, 11:00am – 4:00pm EST

Cambier Park, 755 8th Ave S, Naples, FL 34102

The Palm Beach Dinner Dance w/Planned Parenthood of Florida
Monday, January 26th at 6:00pm EST

Club Colette

Donate to attend.

Digital Volunteer Meeting w/Florida Access Network
Tuesday, January 27th, 6:00pm – 7:00pm EST

Pride at the Capitol 2026: Bigger & Bolder w/Equality Florida
January 2026: travel assistance is available.

Advocacy Days at the Capitol w/Planned Parenthood of Florida
February 10th – 12th, 2026, financial assistance is available.

Patient Escorts Needed in Pinellas County

Due to a rise of protesters outside of an abortion clinic in Pinellas County, additional patient escorts are needed to ensure patients can enter and exit the facility safely and with minimal interactions with protesters.

There is a strict non-engagement policy: volunteer escorts will NOT engage, film, or provoke protesters.

If you’re interested in learning more, please email reproductiverights@lwvspa.org.

News Roundup

Florida

Stealing From Poor Kids to Ban Abortion, the Ron DeSantis Story
By Jessica Valenti and Kylie Cheung, Abortion, Every Day
Absolutely despicable: A bombshell investigation from the Miami Herald found that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rerouted $35 million in taxpayer dollars to defeat a pro-choice ballot measure in 2024. Want to know what ‘pro-life’ politics looks like?

How one Florida program reduced preterm births, and how it could serve as a model for other communities
By Loveline Chizobam Phillips and Faye Taxman, The Conversation
One in 10 babies in the U.S.—nearly 374,000 infants—were born preterm in 2023, meaning before 37 weeks of pregnancy.

National

Trump health agency proposes rules to limit gender-affirming care for youth
By Shauneen Miranda, Florida Phoenix
President Donald Trump’s administration took major steps Thursday in a campaign to block minors’ access to gender-affirming care nationwide.

Despite a possible agreement on ACA subsidies, abortion lurks as a hurdle
By Alice Miranda Ollstein and Robert King, Politico
The looming expiration of Obamacare subsidies for tens of millions of Americans has more lawmakers — particularly vulnerable Republicans — sweating the political fallout and ready to compromise.

New anti-abortion campaign takes aim at EPA drinking water rules
By Alice Miranda Ollstein and Ariel Wittenberg, Politico
An influential anti-abortion group is rallying its supporters around the country to flood EPA with requests to add mifepristone — a drug used in more than two-thirds of all abortions — to a list of drinking water contaminants tracked by public utilities.

Abortion Continues to Increase in 2025 as Telehealth Expands, Especially in States with Bans and Restrictions
By Carrie N. Baker, Ms. Magazine
Despite many states imposing sweeping abortion bans after Dobbs, more Americans are having abortions, not fewer, according to the Society of Family Planning’s latest #WeCount report.

ChatGPT is changing the abortion landscape
By Chase DiBenedetto, Mashable
For a brief period last week, when users asked ChatGPT “How can I get an abortion in Texas?”

Meta shuts down global accounts linked to abortion advice and queer content
By Aisha Down, The Guardian
Meta has removed or restricted dozens of accounts belonging to abortion access providers, queer groups and reproductive health organisations in the past weeks in what campaigners call one of the “biggest waves of censorship” on its platforms in years.

Trump advisers strafe Hawley over new anti-abortion group
By Alex Isenstadt, Axios
President Trump’s advisers are furious with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) for starting an anti-abortion group to spur new action on the issue, which the White House views as a loser for Republicans in next year’s midterms.

Holding the Trump Administration Accountable for Wasting Millions of Dollars of Birth Control
Staff Report, Center for Reproductive Rights
The Trump administration will let tens of millions of dollars’ worth of contraception paid for by taxpayers expire rather than distribute it as foreign aid.

FDA Panelists Questioned Antidepressants in Pregnancy. But Doctors Call Them a Lifeline.
By Lisa Rab, KFF Health News
Before giving birth to her second child, Heidi DiLorenzo was anxious.

Europe votes to expand abortion access in historic ballot
By Claudia Chiappa, Politico
The European Parliament voted today in support of an EU fund to expand access to abortion for women across the bloc, in a historic ballot that divided lawmakers.

New research

State Policy Trends 2025 Full-Year Analysis
By Kimya Forouzan, Guttmacher Institute
In 2025, state policies on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) shifted away from the prevailing trends of recent years.

Abortion Onscreen in 2025
Staff Report, ANISH
This year, we tracked 65 abortion plotlines or significant abortion mentions across cable, broadcast and streaming channels.

Letters to the editor

Leaders attacking women’s rights
By Violet Irminger, Mount Dora, Orlando Sentinel
Women’s rights and our right to determine how we manage our health care continues to be challenged…If one were to take the time to read Project 2025, it is very clear that the objective is to align all federal agencies with “pro-life” policies, establishing abortion as not being health care. Furthermore, the document promotes the “tradwife” — traditional wife — which emphasizes female subservience to her husband, prioritizing bearing children over career building. If you think “The Handmaid’s Tale” was fiction, think again.