Florida’s 6-week abortion ban set to take effect this week

A stricter abortion law is set to take effect in Florida on Wednesday — dropping the state’s 15-week ban to a six-week ban — and it will likely affect thousands of people seeking abortion care within the first month alone.

A stricter abortion law is set to take effect in Florida on Wednesday — dropping the state’s 15-week ban to a six-week ban — and it will likely affect thousands of people seeking abortion care within the first month alone. Florida has become a key abortion access point amid widespread restrictions that have taken hold in the region in the two years since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. It’s also one of the country’s most populous states. Last year, 1 of every 3 abortions in the South — and about 1 in every 12 nationwide — happened in Florida, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. In 2023, there were about 7,000 abortions in Florida each month, and more than 9,000 people traveled from other states to get an abortion in Florida throughout the year, the data shows. Many women don’t know that they’re pregnant six weeks after their last menstrual period, and other states that have enacted laws with this early gestation limit saw significant cuts to abortion care. In Texas, the number of abortions provided within the formal health-care system dropped by about half after a six-week abortion ban took effect in 2021, and there were thousands more births than expected in the following year. In South Carolina, there was a 70% decrease in abortions just one month after the state enforced a six-week limit. But tighter restrictions in Florida could have an even more significant effect than historical trends suggest because Florida has been absorbing patients from other states that already have stricter limits. So far this year, more than 1,300 people from other states have traveled to Florida for an abortion, according to data from the state health agency — nearly a tenth of all abortions in the state so far in 2024. Of the 16 states in the South, nine have banned abortion. Florida will join Georgia and South Carolina with a six-week ban. This leaves just three states in this US Census region — Delaware, Maryland and Virginia — where abortion remains legal past the first trimester and North Carolina with a 12-week limit.