Florida, Florida, Florida
What have you done, brother?
That’s a line from the show “Lost” that my husband and I like to use. You have to imagine it in an Australian accent.
So, the Supreme Court of the state of Florida decided on Monday April 1st that abortion is not protected in the Florida state constitution. Now, the 6-week abortion ban that was approved by the state legislature and signed by the governor in April 2023 will go into effect this coming Wednesday, May 1st.
The following shows the states with total or 6-week bans in red. Only Florida, Georgia and South Carolina actually have 6-week bans. The rest in red have total bans with varying exceptions. This is only part of the map of the U.S. so this isn’t even all of the states with total bans.
A 6-week ban is a TOTAL ban
A 6-week ban is a TOTAL BAN for many many women, make no mistake. It is a ban based on 6 weeks since a woman’s last menstrual period (LMP), not based on 6 weeks since conception. Women aren’t even pregnant in the first 2 weeks based on LMP. See my post about the weeks of pregnancy. Most home pregnancy tests do not detect an increased level of the human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) until 10 days after conception. That would be 3 ½ weeks after LMP. Your body makes this hormone when you're pregnant and a fertilized egg attaches to the wall of your uterus. And some of us women have bodies that didn’t get the memo about the perfect 28-day cycle. There are other reasons besides irregular or long cycles, why you might not get your period when expected. It could be due to hormonal birth control, breastfeeding, certain medications, perimenopause, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), not enough sleep, too much stress, too much exercise, changes in weight, or a thyroid condition, among others. So, we can assume a lot of women might not suspect they are pregnant just because of a missed period. And, damn you, United States Supreme Court, for making me have to use the word “period” in my writing so much now.
Look at that map!
Or rather, as my daughter once said as a toddler “Look at that mess!”
Women in Florida and the surrounding states have to go all the way to Virginia, Ohio or Illinois to get abortion health care. North Carolina has a 12-week ban, but they require two visits 72 hours apart and only have 14 clinics, so this isn’t a good option.
This is where we are. The state in the south, Florida, with the greatest increase in number of abortions since 2022 due to bans in surrounding states now has a 6-week ban.
The following table shows how far it is to drive from four of the southern states to states where the ban is at viability. The distances are from the center of each state to the center of the destination state. There are abortion clinics on the state lines in Virginia and Illinois, but women could be traveling from further south than the center of their state. Have you seen how far away Miami is from the rest of the country?
There is a lot more to say about Florida, but I really wanted to put up a visual that would make people think about how hard it is going to be for even more women to get abortion care now that Florida is not an option. And this is only if they have the means.
On that note, mayday.health or plancpills.org will connect ANYONE in ANY STATE for ordering abortion medication online.
You can also order abortion medication through HeyJane and AidAccess. Women can buy abortion medication for the future at AidAcess, before you are pregnant. This is something important for women to know in states with total bans.
Other sites to find clinics are: AbortionFinder.org and Planned Parenthood
And, as usual, a shoutout for my favorite substacks right now:
https://www.axios.com/local/charlotte/2024/04/22/abortion-ban-clinics-florida-north-carolina-nc
https://www.abortionfinder.org/abortion-guides-by-state/abortion-in-north-carolina/abortion-laws
Silver lining of rising sea levels.
Great article, and that visual map is helpful, in damn scary