Florida sees more than 20 percent decline in abortions from this time last year

The number of abortion procedures provided in Florida has dropped more than 21 percent compared to this time last year, according to new data published by the state — a decline likely tied to a law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy that took effect May 1.

According to data from the state Agency for Health Care Administration, licensed clinicians reported 56,864 abortions in Florida as of this week, compared to 72,087 abortions reported by the same time last year, when Florida had a 15-week abortion ban in effect.

In Orange County, a populous county in Central Florida that’s home to three licensed abortion clinics, the number of abortions performed year-to-date among residents dropped nearly 28 percent, from 4,768 reported abortions this time last year to 3,450. The number of abortions received from pregnant people traveling to Florida from out of state for care also dropped by nearly half, from 6,566 reported abortions last year to 3,621 this December.

State and county totals do not take into account self-managed abortions, or pregnancies terminated without the assistance of a licensed abortion clinic provider. Florida law requires abortion providers to report their totals to the state each month.

According to the latest state report, the vast majority of abortions reported so far in 2024 occurred during the first trimester — up to 13 weeks of pregnancy — with just 5.3 percent — or 3,058 abortions — reported during the second trimester.

Roughly 22 percent of abortions — or 12,335 — reported so far this year were sought for “social or economic reasons,” according to state data, while 105 abortions were performed due to a “life endangering physical condition,” 173 were performed due to a fatal fetal abnormality, and 284 were performed as a result of a fatal genetic defect, deformity or abnormality.

Early data collected by the Guttmacher Institute, a national reproductive rights policy organization, found that Florida’s six-week ban resulted in a “substantial drop” in clinician-provided abortions in the early months after the ban first took effect.

Prior to the six-week ban, Florida had a 15-week abortion ban in place, first approved by Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022, even before the fall of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that previously guaranteed the federal constitutional right to abortion.

Before that, Florida law had permitted abortion up to the third trimester, making it one of the least-restrictive states at the time for abortion access in the entire U.S. South — and thereby a safe place that someone in a neighboring state with more restrictive laws on the books could travel to in order to legally and safely terminate their pregnancy.

The majority of people who seek abortion care in the U.S. are women of color, have at least one child already, and have a household income below the federal poverty level, according to KFF.

Abortion procedures themselves aren’t cheap, aren’t eligible for Medicaid coverage, and are only eligible for insurance coverage through a ACA marketplace plan under limited circumstances.

Still, the cost of giving birth, particularly for someone who is uninsured, can also be substantial, costing more than $10,000 without insurance and potentially a couple thousand dollars even with an insurance plan. Then, there’s the cost of taking care of and raising a child.

A decline in abortion totals in Florida could mean that more people are traveling out of state for care, provided they can afford to do so, or are at the very least able to access financial assistance through an abortion fund. The nearest state to legally access abortion care beyond six weeks is roughly 600 miles away in North Carolina — where abortion is legal up to 12 weeks — or Virginia, where abortion is legal up to the third trimester.

Just because numbers have dipped in Florida doesn’t mean they aren’t happening on a larger scale elsewhere, where abortion is subject to fewer restrictions. Data collected by the Guttmacher Institute demonstrates that the number of abortions performed in the U.S. in the first full year after the fall of Roe v. Wade didn’t decline — but actually increased.

But Florida’s not alone in its restrictive landscape. Abortion is completely banned under most circumstances in roughly a dozen states, according to a tracker from the New York Times, and moderately or severely restricted in at least seven, including Florida. During this year’s elections, voters in seven states approved ballot measures in support of abortion access, including voters in Missouri, the first state to completely ban abortion after the 2022 Supreme Court decision.

Voters in Florida also had a pro-abortion rights measure on the ballot this November, and a majority (57 percent) voted in favor of approving it. Under Florida’s state constitution, however, ballot measures need at least 60 percent support in order to pass, meaning Florida’s six-week abortion ban will be staying in place for the foreseeable future. Advocates for abortion rights have, nonetheless, vowed to repeal or otherwise demand an end to the state’s restrictive ban.

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This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2024.