Access to abortion is now limited across the South because of Florida’s 6-week abortion ban
Planned Parenthood of Southwest Florida and Central Florida: Supporting Abortion Care Providers During the November Voting Season with a Proposed Amendment
Voters will have a say on the matter in November when a proposal to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution will appear on the election ballot. Regardless of what happens this fall, the ban could have far-reaching effects.
Opponents of the ban stress that many people don’t realize they are pregnant at six weeks. There is an abortion service available until that time frame for those that do.
Abortion care providers in the state like Planned Parenthood are doing ultrasounds earlier and have extended their hours to accommodate as many patients as they can.
Barbara Zdravecky, the interim CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said they wanted to help everyone with their information so they could access care as quickly as possible.
“The emotional turmoil that’s going to happen, the anger, the fear, the anxiety is going to be great,” says Zdravecky, who adds centers are ramping up support staff to respond to patients’ concerns and help them navigate their options.
There are challenges due to Florida’s mandatory waiting period of 24 hours and ban on using Telemedicine for abortions. The patients need to attend two appointments, one for consultation and another for procedure, at least one day later.
Instead, advocates that help people to access abortions are suggesting that they travel further to places like Virginia, Illinois or Washington D.C. Clinics in states that allow unrestricted abortion access will become more difficult to accommodate if they can’t handle the influx of patients.
“We’re estimating about 90% of our callers are going to need to go out-of-state and that we’ll have a large increase in callers because this is going to be a whole new cost for people seeking abortions,” says McKenna Kelley, a volunteer board member with the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund.
Abortion funds can help pregnant people cover the cost of abortion procedures and relieve some of the logistical challenges associated with seeking care. Paying for flights, hotel stays and other long-distance travel expenses can be much harder than giving someone a ride to a nearby clinic.
There was a big response from supporters who were angry about the Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Organizers fear they won’t be able to help everyone in need, but say funds are working together to form a stronger support network around the country.
“Our position is we need to protect unborn children, we need to celebrate life, protect life, that’s the chief role of government,” says John Stemberger, president of Liberty Counsel Action, a religious liberty organization that supports abortion bans.
Protesting the Dream Amendment: Florida’s Supreme Court isn’t going to drop the needle in stopping abortion crisis pregnancy centers, Rep. Marjorie Loraine Pieiro
He says that the group has given tips on how to prepare for a possible increase in demand for services at the crisis pregnancy centers.
These centers are usually run by organizations that believe in miracles. They encourage pregnant women not to get abortions and to consider parenting or adoption instead. Sometimes they give out free baby supplies.
Stemberger says that they want to encourage young mothers or older mothers in crisis pregnancies to think differently about abortion.
Some crisis pregnancy centers have been known to provide people with misleading or inaccurate medical information. There have been demands for more oversight.
Many survivors don’t feel safe or comfortable reporting assaults, says Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro, executive director of the abortion fund Florida Access Network. She accuses the requirements of being cruel and unrealistic.
It’s vital that we vote in the fall to protect their rights. The [state] Supreme Court has basically put this issue in the voters’ hands,” says Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, a Democrat.
President Joe Biden made abortion the focus of a visit to Tampa last Monday, while Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to talk about it in Jacksonville on Wednesday.
Marjorie Dannenfelser of Pro-life America says that the abortion lobby’s dream amendment is misleading.
The wording of the proposal was at the heart of the state’s legal challenge to the effort. The attorney general argued it wouldn’t work for voters. The state Supreme Court wrote in its 4-3 opinion that the proposal was clearly stated and reflected the text of the proposed amendment.
Amendment 4 is going to be won on the backs of those people and people will make babies when they don’t want to, she says.
Planned Parenthood of Southwest Florida and Central Florida said it is supporting abortion care providers during the November voting season with a proposed amendment in Florida that seeks to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution. The amendment will appear on the November 8 election ballot. Planned Parenthood is doing ultrasounds earlier and has extended its hours to accommodate as many patients as they can.