FLORIDA – Judges, state lawmakers and voters are deciding the future of abortion in the U.S. two years after the Supreme Court jolted the legal status quo with a ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Following that landmark decision, voters in Florida will decide this fall if abortion access should be a protected right.
The June 24, 2022, ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization sparked legislative action, protest and numerous lawsuits — placing the issue at the center of politics across the country.
Abortion is now banned at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, in 14 Republican-controlled states. In three other states, it's barred after about the first six weeks, which is before many know they are pregnant. Most Democratic-led states have taken actions to protect abortion rights, and become sanctuaries for out-of-state patients seeking care.
In May, Florida replaced its 15-week abortion ban with a six-week ban.
RELATED | Florida’s 6-week abortion ban takes effect, intensifying debate over reproductive rights
Providers and advocates called that decision a major blow to reproductive access in the South, essentially making the region a “desert” for reproductive care.
But that could change this fall when Florida voters will decide if abortion should be protected in the state’s constitution.
Florida joins Colorado, Maryland and South Dakota in putting this initiative on the November ballot.
“No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider,” Florida’s Amendment 4 states.
Florida law requires a constitutional amendment to get 60% of voter approval, not just a simple majority vote.
Bans in Republican-led states have prompted many people seeking abortions to travel to get care. That translates into higher costs for gas or plane tickets, hotels and meals; more logistics to figure out, including child care; and more days off work.
A new study by the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for abortion access, found that out of just over a million abortions provided in clinics, hospitals and doctors' offices, more than 161,000 — or 16% — were for people who crossed state lines to get them.
Since Florida’s six-week abortion ban kicked in in May, many people had to travel farther than before, since throughout the Southeast, most states have bans.
MORE | Many Florida women can’t get abortions past 6 weeks. Where else can they go?
In Alabama, the Yellowhammer Fund, which previously helped residents pay for the procedure has paused doing so since facing threats of litigation from the state.
Jenice Fountain, Yellowhammer’s executive director, said she met a woman recently who traveled from Alabama to neighboring Georgia for an abortion but found she couldn’t get one there because she was slightly too far into her pregnancy. So she then went to Virginia. The journey wiped out her rent money and she needed help to remain housed.
“We’re having people use every dime that they have to get out of state, or use every dime they have to have another child,” Fountain said.
Nearly two-thirds of known abortions last year were provided with pills rather than procedures.
One report found that pills are prescribed via telehealth and mailed to about 6,000 people a month who live in states with abortion bans. They're sent by medical providers in states with laws intended to protect them from prosecution for those prescriptions. The laws in Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and Washington specifically protect medical providers who prescribe the pills to patients in states with bans.
The growing prominence of pills, which were used in about half of all abortions just before the Dobbs ruling, is a frontier in the latest chapter of the legal fight.
MORE | Abortion access has won when it’s been on the ballot. That’s not an option for half the states
The U.S. Supreme Court this month unanimously rejected an effort by abortion opponents who were seeking to overturn or roll back the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs usually used together for medication abortions. The issue is likely to return.
There's also a push for a ballot measure in Arizona, where the state Supreme Court this year ruled that an 1864 abortion ban could be enforced. With the help of some Republicans — Democrats in the Legislature were able to repeal that law.
The Dobbs ruling and its aftermath gave rise to a bevy of legal questions and lawsuits challenging nearly every ban and restriction.
Many of those questions deal with how exceptions — which come into play far more often when abortion is barred earlier in pregnancy — should apply. The issue is often raised by those who wanted to be pregnant but who experienced life-threatening complications.
In Florida, advocacy groups are already working around the clock to campaign for and against the proposed amendment in the state.
The committee leading the charge in favor of the amendment raised $8 million in the first two weeks of June.
A political committee opposing the proposed amendment raised more than $107,000 at the same time.
The Supreme Court also heard arguments in April on the federal government's lawsuit against Idaho, which says its ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy can extend to women in medical emergencies. The Biden administration says that violates federal law. A ruling on that case could be issued at any time.
Meanwhile, bans have been put on hold by judges in Iowa, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.