Florida's six week abortion ban went into effect on Wenesday, replacing the 15-week ban that became state law shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned in the summer of 2022.
Under the new law, patients seeking abortions will be subject to a mandatory 24-hour waiting period and attend two in-person appointments. People will also no longer be able access abortion via telehealth appointments.
Florida's Supreme Court issued the landmark decision last month, while simultaneously allowing for a November referendum that could enshrine the right to an abortion in the state's constitution.Abortion providers across the Sunshine State have expressed concern about the strain the ban could put on both patients and healthcare providers — particularly because many people do not even know whether they're pregnant by six weeks.
"We want to be able to help everyone with information in order to access care as quickly as possible," Barbara Zdravecky, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida told NPR. "The emotional turmoil that's going to happen, the anger, the fear, the anxiety is going to be great."
Many strategists believe that a November referendum on abortion-access could have favorable results for Flordia Democrats. The proposed constitutional Amendment Four would allow abortion up to the point of viability and will require 60% approval to pass. Abortion has proved to be a challenging issue for Republicans in the 2024 election cycle. Though overturning Roe v. Wade was one of the party's long term goals, in the aftermath of their Supreme Court victory the GOP has found that restricting abortion is a losing issue at the ballot box.
"The average Floridian, when they hear the truth about this extreme amendment, they will vote it down," said State Representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka, according to the New York Times.
In the meantime, abortion providers in Florida anticipate new complexities as they work with patients to determine the next steps in their pregnancies.
"We're estimating about 90% of our callers are going to need to go out-of-state and that we'll have a large increase in callers because this is going to be a whole new cost for people seeking abortions," McKenna Kelley, a volunteer board member with the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund told NPR.
