Abortion rights ballot measures pass in 7 states, fail in 3 others

Defeats in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota ended an unbroken post-Roe ballot measure winning streak for reproductive rights advocates.

Nov. 6, 2024
By Adam Edelman

Constitutional amendments to protect or expand abortion rights passed in seven of the 10 states where they appeared on the ballot Tuesday, NBC News projects.

Voters in Arizona and Missouri approved ballot initiatives that will effectively protect abortion rights until fetal viability and undo existing abortion laws on the books. But voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota rejected proposed amendments that would have done the same — becoming the first pro-abortion-rights ballot measures to fail since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/abortion-rights-ballot-measures-pass-7-states-fail-3-others-rcna178718

Florida’s abortion ban has an exception for fatal fetal anomalies. So why was this woman forced to go to Virginia?

In November, Florida voters will have a chance to codify abortion rights. It could be the only way that people with medically complex pregnancies could access the procedure in the state.

Shefali Luthra, Reproductive Health Reporter
October 15, 2024

Emily Friend decided to paint the nursery a delicate green. She had originally settled on purple — gentle and welcoming, a color she hoped would make her baby feel at home. But Friend, who lives between Arcadia and Port Charlotte, in Southwest Florida, couldn’t find room furnishings to match the hue. So she and her boyfriend decided on a delicate green that felt joyful, perfect even if it wasn’t their first choice.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2024/10/floridas-abortion-ban-fetal-anomalies/

What It’s Like to Be an Abortion Clinic Escort In the Post-Roe Era

By Jasmine Knox
August 14, 2024

“A Whole New World” from Aladdin was blasting in the background while a stocky, middle-aged man in a tight t-shirt and cargo shorts yelled “C’mon baby girl! You know you don’t want to do this!” and warned me that I would face divine judgment for my decision. A volunteer grabbed a rainbow umbrella and shielded us from the man’s gaze.

I was there to interview Betty of Stand With Abortion Now, or SWAN, outside of Orlando’s Women’s Center, an independent clinic providing abortion services as well as crucial OBGYN care, including mammograms and cancer screenings. I wanted to speak with her about the work that abortion clinic escorts do amid constant fluctuation in abortion access laws and in the face of sometimes violent harassment from anti-abortion activists.

Continued: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-its-like-to-be-an-abortion-clinic-escort-in-the-post-roe-era

14.08.2024

Commentary

Abortion Access Missouri

abortion clinic escorts

clinic escorts

National Abortion Federation

Orlando Women's Center

Stand With Abortion Now

Many Florida women can’t get abortions past 6 weeks. Where else can they go?

Since Florida enacted a six-week abortion ban, clinics in several other Southern and mid-Atlantic states have sprung into action

By MAKIYA SEMINERA and GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press
May 4, 2024

RALEIGH, N.C. -- When Florida enacted its six-week abortion ban last week, clinics in several other Southern and mid-Atlantic states sprang into action, knowing women would look to them for services no longer available where they live.

Health care providers in North Carolina, three states to the north, are rushing to expand availability and decrease wait times. “We are already seeing appointments,” said Katherine Farris, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “We have appointments on the books with patients who were unable to get in, in the last days of April in Florida.”

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/florida-women-abortions-past-6-weeks-109936747

USA – ‘This is life and death’: inside a Florida clinic after the six-week abortion ban

State’s fall as the last bastion of access to the procedure in the deep south means women will have to travel farther for care

Carter Sherman
Fri 3 May 2024

Rose hadn’t even missed her period when the thought hit her: “I need to take a test.” The Florida resident, who has two kids, had given birth just three months ago. She thought that she and her husband were being careful. But the pregnancy test confirmed her suspicion: she was pregnant and, she realized, didn’t want to be.

“It would just be a very big financial, physical, emotional strain,” said Rose, who asked to be identified by a nickname. Her last two pregnancies were enormously difficult and she feared for her health. She wants to be a tattoo artist, but she’s not working at the moment. Her husband has only recently started a new job. Rose continued: “I want to start a career and go to school and learn new things and it’s a lot harder with more kids. It’s already more difficult with the kids that I have.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/03/florida-abortion-ban-clinic

The Six-Week Abortion Ban in Florida Is Only the Beginning

The history of these bans suggests they’re far from the anti-abortion movement’s endgame.

BY MARY ZIEGLER
MAY 01, 2024

Florida has long been a destination state for abortion-seekers in a region defined by sweeping criminal bans. And, despite being under Republican control, Florida had long been a place with one of the highest abortion rates in the nation. Yet this week, a six-week ban signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April 2023 is set to go into effect. Florida’s law will cut off access for a large number of patients, many of whom will have to travel as far as North Carolina and Virginia, where clinics have already reported long waiting periods and struggles to meet demand.

Six-week bans block a sizable share of abortions—as of 2021, nearly 60 percent of procedures in Florida occured after that point in pregnancy. But the history of six-week bans like Florida’s suggests that this will not be the stopping point for the anti-abortion movement. Six-week bans were designed to be a stopgap in the fight for fetal personhood.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/05/florida-six-week-abortion-ban-only-the-beginning.html

Florida’s strict laws make Latin America a potential destination to get an abortion

WLRN 91.3 FM | By Helen Acevedo, Sergio R. Bustos
April 9, 2024

With the Florida Supreme Court upholding the state’s new stricter abortion ban, pregnant women in Florida — especially those in South Florida — may soon head to countries in Latin America, where several countries have legalized the procedure, a reproductive health expert told WLRN on Friday.

“We have something unique because we do have a population in South Florida that has a Latin American connection and that has cultural roots, family members and the language,” said Daniela Martins. “So it is very likely that we will see folks that do have that connection with Latin America now start to travel to Colombia, Mexico or Argentina for an abortion.”

Continued: https://www.wusf.org/politics-issues/2024-04-09/florida-strict-laws-six-week-ban-latin-america-potential-destination-get-abortion

Abortion Might Be a Winning Issue — Even in Florida

An architect of the ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution speaks out.

By RYAN LIZZA
April 6, 2024

Abortion rights supporters have been on a hot winning streak in state ballot initiatives since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. Now here comes Florida.

The Florida Supreme Court issued a pair of decisions earlier this week that upheld a strict abortion ban in the state and also cleared the way for Amendment 4, a November referendum on whether to enshrine the right to abortion in the Florida Constitution.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/06/abortion-rights-florida-anna-hochkammer-00150870

06.04.2024

Interviews/Podcasts

Amendment 4

Anna Hochkammer

constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights

Florida Supreme Court

Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition

Florida’s 6-week abortion ban ‘catastrophic for the region,’ activist says

Women in the Southeast may have to travel as far as Virginia for care.

By Nadine El-Bawab
April 4, 2024

Despite abortion being on the November ballot in Florida, pro-abortion groups say a six-week ban going into effect next month will have devastating consequences for women in the Southeast.

…Florida, despite its 15-week limit, has been a key point of access to women across the southeastern U.S. living in states that have ceased nearly all abortion services due to bans. At least 14 states have ceased nearly all abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal protections for abortion rights.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/floridas-6-week-abortion-ban-catastrophic-region-activist/story?id=108816318

Florida abortion providers brace for six-week ban: ‘Where are these 80,000 patients gonna go?’

In separate decision, state supreme court agrees to allow voters to decide on enshrining rights in constitution in November

Carter Sherman
Tue 2 Apr 2024

Florida, the last bastion of abortion access in the south-eastern United States, will ban abortion past six weeks of pregnancy starting next month, leaving abortion providers and their supporters in the state and across the country scrambling to deal with the fallout for patients.

On Monday, the Florida state supreme court upheld a 15-week abortion ban, a move that removed the barriers for a separate, six-week ban that takes effect on 1 May. In a separate ruling, the court also agreed to let Florida residents weigh in on the issue through a November ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution – a decision that opens a new front in an election that is already sure to be dominated by abortion politics.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/02/florida-abortion-ban-six-weeks