Sixth-week abortion ban takes effect Wednesday in Florida

Florida is a state to which women traveled (more than 9,000 last year) from other territories in the country to terminate their pregnancies.

4/30/2024 - 7:49am (GMT-5) |

Cargando — Demonstration in Washington in favor of abortion (Reference image) Photo © Flickr / Adam Fagen

Manifestación en Washington a favor del aborto (Imagen de referencia) © Flickr / Adam Fagen — Demonstration in Washington in favor of abortion (Reference image) Photo © Flickr / Adam Fagen

On Wednesday, May 1, the law that prohibits abortion from the sixth week of gestation comes into force in Florida, a measure previously taken by its neighbor Georgia and nearby South Carolina.

A report fromCNN Remember that until now, Florida was a place where women traveled (more than 9,000 last year) from other territories to terminate their pregnancies.

According to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a private organization that defends abortion, in 2023 there were about 7,000 abortions each month in the Sunshine State, a figure that represents one in every three abortions performed in the southern region of the country.

Since June 2022, when theUnited States Supreme Court decided to overturn the historic Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973, which legalized abortion nationwide, restrictions have increased in several states.

In the southern region, nine of its 16 states have banned abortion. Starting this week, with the entry into force of the Florida law, only in three of them (Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) the interruption of pregnancy will be legal after the first trimester, and in North Carolina until 12 weeks.

The Tampa Bay Abortion Fund anticipates that the new ban on abortion after six weeks will affect the vast majority of people who call its hotline, who will now have to seek care out of state.

Last week, President JoeBiden, during a visit to Florida, described the new restriction as "extreme" and noted that it will affect millions of women.

The Democratic leader expressed that the issue of abortion will be included on the November ballot and expressed his confidence that voters will protect the reproductive rights of women.

Access to pregnancy termination should not depend on a person's geographic location, he stressed.

In April of last year, theFlorida Legislature, with a Republican majority, approved the abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy. The previous regulations allowed it up to 15 weeks.

The initiative was supported by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who was then preparing to launch his presidential bid.