In Florida, Election Day Marks 6 Months Under State’s Abortion Ban
It’s been six months since the Florida Supreme Court allowed the state’s six-week abortion ban to take effect. And, according to new data provided by the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund and first reported by Axios, reproductive rights activists’ warnings about the impact of the ban have all come true. The ban created massive, possibly insurmountable barriers to accessing abortion care, and these barriers highlight the stakes of Tuesday’s election.
According to the Florida-based abortion fund, the number of callers that they’ve helped travel out-of-state for abortion care tripled between May and November, compared to the first four months of this year. Consequently, the fund expects that 2024 will mark a record year in spending. They’ve already pledged over $346,000 to help 739 callers pay for out-of-state abortion services since the ban took effect. On top of that, the fund pledged over $55,000 in logistical support, including travel, lodging, and other associated costs that traveling for abortion care requires.
In June, the Florida Access Network abortion fund reported that their callers were “on average traveling over 900 miles” for out-of-state abortion care. Within a month of the ban taking effect, the fund helped 150 people travel out-of-state for abortion. (We reached out to FAN about any data they can provide from the last six months, and will update this if they respond.) Stephanie Loraine Pineiro, executive director of FAN, previously called Florida’s ban “the biggest change in the abortion access landscape” since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. This is because Florida was the last state in the South that hadn’t fully banned abortion, allowing the procedure for up to 15 weeks into a pregnancy. When the six-week ban took effect in May, it decimated access across the entire region, with one abortion provider telling Jezebel that it was "not survivable."
On Tuesday, Floridians will vote on Amendment 4, which needs 60% of the vote to succeed under state law. Unfortunately, as of Monday, it's currently polling at 55%, according to Florida Politics. In addition to it's high threshold, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has imposed a number of head-spinning, increasingly fascist barriers. This has included threatening local TV stations with criminal charges for airing ads in support of the ballot measure, publishing a 350-page report baselessly accusing the campaign for Amendment 4 of widespread voter fraud, and, at different points, reportedly sending election police to Amendment 4 supporters’ homes to accuse them of fraud. DeSantis has also devoted a significant amount of taxpayer dollars to buying TV ads spreading misinformation about Amendment 4 across the state, and lied on an official Health Department webpage that Florida’s abortion ban “protects women” and Amendment 4 endangers them.
Whatever the outcome of Tuesday’s election, abortion access will remain severely strained in the state. If Amendment 4 succeeds, the DeSantis administration will inevitably, aggressively challenge the result. And it’s incredibly bleak that organizers had to raise over $101 million to campaign for Amendment 4 in the first place, all while abortion funds like FAN and the Tampa Bay are struggling to make ends meet. This—receiving adequate funding at a time when political campaigns are fundraising extensively off abortion rights—has become an increasingly difficult challenge that abortion funds across the country say they’ve been navigating throughout this crucial election year.