Health care providers concerned about state's new restrictive abortion law that goes into effect next month
MIAMI - A new state law that goes into effect next will severely restrict access to abortions.
On Monday, Florida's Supreme Court upheld the state's 15-week abortion ban. In doing so, it cleared the way for the six-week "heartbeat" ban signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last April. It will go into effect on May 1st.
Dr. Chelsea Daniels, a staff physician at a Planned Parenthood facility in Miami-Dade, said it's been hectic and she expects it to get worse at the clinics by the end of the month.
"My concern is less about the caseload and more about how many patients we are going to have to turn away. We're going to be seeing the same, if not more, people who are not aware of the ban or how far along they are in pregnancy. All they know is that they peed on a stick at home and they are pregnant. So they'll come in for an ultrasound and we will have to have the same conversation 25 times a day about how we can't provide them with care anymore," said Daniels.
She said the new six-week ban is unrealistic and it's before most people even know they're pregnant.
"It's really difficult to date a pregnancy exactly, there's a window of a couple of days on either end," said Daniels.
Last year more than 84,000 people in Florida received an abortion, approximately 2,000 more than in 2022. So far, in 2024, just over 8,000 women have had an abortion.
The new six-week law will severely restrict access to abortions in the South.
"Probably the biggest change we're going to see is with the behind-the-scenes people, the patient navigation team, the advocacy team, to make sure that when someone comes in at eight weeks pregnant and they are resourced and taken through the proper channels to get their abortion out of state," said Daniels.
Planned Parenthood offers more medical procedures than just abortions but Daniels said their top priority right now is taking care of women who are coming close to 15 weeks before May 1.
As for the difference between 6 weeks and 15 weeks pregnant?
"There is no biological difference. These are arbitrary gestational age limits created by legislators who have not gone to medical school. These constructs of what 6 weeks versus 15 weeks mean, it's a meaningless construct," said Daniels.
She said doctors are going to be working a lot of overtime to help as many patients as they can before and after May 1.
For women who have the option and means to travel out of state to get an abortion, Daniels said the closest state for beyond 6 weeks is North Carolina and if you're above 12 weeks pregnant it would be the Virginia area.