After the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, numerous states have started instituting strict abortion laws which caused many women in those states to seek abortions in Florida, CBS News reported Monday.
Florida currently has a 15-week abortion ban, but as its law is still less restrictive than surrounding states, women who want abortions have traveled to Florida, according to CBS News. Planned Parenthood facilities in the state have had to turn some women away due to the influx.
“We had to increase our staffing. We had to increase our appointments,” Samantha Deans, associate medical director of Planned Parenthood of Southeast and North Florida, told CBS.
Florida is on track to surpass last year’s total of out-of-state abortions. https://t.co/hRkhlgasRS
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 19, 2022
A Florida state judge briefly blocked the 15-week abortion ban, but it was quickly reinstated when the state appealed the decision, CBS News reported. Although the decision to uphold the ban is being contested, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said the new law will hold strong against legal challenges, the outlet noted. (RELATED: Ohio Lawmakers Introduce ‘Personhood Act’ To Ban Abortion From The Moment Of Conception)
The number of out-of-state abortions in Florida last year was 4,900, but with 2,548 out-of-state abortions having already taken place as of July 6, Florida is on track to surpass their number’s from last year, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reported, according to CBS News.
“Florida is turning into an abortion destination state here in the South,” Florida Voice of the Unborn founder Andrew Shirvell told the outlet. “We need a total ban on abortions here.”
The rate of abortion in Florida is the third highest in the country, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, CBS News reported.