Florida six-week abortion ban takes effect as opponents prepare for November showdown

Florida’s ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancywent into effect on Wednesday, setting up the state as a major battleground over reproductive rights in the 2024 election.

The law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis last year, will replace the existing 15-week ban in the state. The 15-week ban took effect earlier this year after a decision by Florida’s supreme court.

The state now joins its neighbors Alabama and Georgia in having one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country.

Many women in Florida were scrambling to get appointments at clinics before the ban took effect, with doctors working to accomodate as many as possible, NPR reported.

«We're going to do everything we can to provide that care for as long as we're legally allowed to do so,” Dr Chelsea Daniels, a clinician with Planned Parenthood of Miami, said.

The ban now means that women in Florida will have to travel hundreds of miles for an abortion after six weeks. The closest state with looser restrictions is North Carolina, which has a 12-week ban.

At six weeks, many women do not know they are pregnant. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that roughly a third of all abortions take place during the first six weeks of the pregnancy.

Loopholes in the new Florida law will allow for abortions in cases of rape or incest until 15 weeks, or to save the life of a patient. But opponents argue that even in such drastic cases, such a law adds a layer of uncertainty and fear to medical decisions that will harm women in both the short, and long-term.

Democrats are expected to make the abortion ban front and center of their appeals to Florida voters ahead of elections later this year.

President Biden traveled to Florida last month