Number of abortions in Florida dropped more than any other state last year, new data shows
The number of abortions in Florida dropped significantly after the state's six-week ban took effect last May, according to a new analysis.
Over 2024, there were 12,100 fewer abortions provided in Florida as compared to 2023, according to a report from The Guttmacher Institute, which describes itself as a "research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights."
It was the steepest decline in abortions across the country. South Carolina has the second-largest decline, with 3,500 fewer abortions in 2024 compared to 2023.
Kansas and Virginia, however, saw big increases in the number of abortions provided to people coming from other states. According to the analysis, 4,300 out-of-state patients traveled to Virginia for abortion care.
Before Florida's six-week ban took effect last May, the state provided the only abortion access in the Deep South that went up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. Generally, babies have a reasonable chance of surviving outside the womb around 24 weeks of gestation.
"It is likely that Virginia absorbed patients affected by Florida's six-week abortion ban after it went into effect in May 2024," the analysis says.
North Carolina is the closest state without a six-week or total abortion ban (that state allows abortion up to 12 weeks), but the 72-hour in-person waiting period makes it difficult for many to make the drive for an appointment.
This makes Virginia a more convenient option, the analysis said, but the data also showed residents traveling as far as New York and California for abortions.
In 2024, 73,710 abortions were provided by clinicians in Florida, a 14.1% drop from 2023. But overall across the country, the number of abortions increased from 1,033,740 abortions to 1,038,090, or about 0.4%.
As previously reported, the six-week abortion ban took effect May 1, a month after the state's 15-week ban went into effect in April.
The 15-week ban, passed in 2022, stalled in the Florida Supreme Court until this April, when the court overruled its own 34-year-old decision that said a privacy provision in the state's constitution protected a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy.
Once the 15-week-ban took effect, it triggered the six-week ban, passed in 2023.
Last fall, Amendment 4, which would have enshrined abortion rights in the Florida Constitution, failed with 57% of the statewide vote. In Florida, a ballot initiative needs 60% to pass. But 57%, or over 6 million votes, was enough for abortion rights advocates to call upon the Legislature to pay attention to the results and repeal the six-week abortion ban.
Last fall, however, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said he would not change the law.
It didn't stop Democrats this Legislative session from attempting to overturn the six-week ban with legislation (SB 870, HB 741, HB 1139) that would allow abortion until viability. None of those bills have been heard in committee.
Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Abortions in Florida fell more than any other state, latest data shows
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