12,000 lives saved after state’s heartbeat protection law takes effect
Abortions in Florida declined significantly in 2024 after the state passed a 6-week ban on the procedure in 2023.
Roughly 73,710 abortions were administered in the state in 2024 compared to 85,770 in 2023, a drop of about 12,100, according to a report from The Guttmacher Institute. Florida’s ban prohibits abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, making exceptions for victims of rape, incest or human trafficking, in which case an abortion is permitted until 15-weeks gestation.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the heartbeat bill into law in April 2023, which a November ballot initiative that was struck down by voters threatened to overturn. A lawsuit filed against the state in 2022 by Planned Parenthood challenging the previous 15-week abortion ban also had the potential to prevent the 2023 law from taking effect, had it managed to declare a right to abortion in the state, but Florida’s Supreme Court ruled against the challenge.
DeSantis was a staunch opponent of the 2024 ballot initiative that threatened to overturn the state’s previous abortion restrictions, stating at the time that the amendment would “allow abortion in Florida up until birth and will invalidate all pro-life protections in state law.”
Abortions in South Carolina also declined by 3,500 after the state passed a similar 6-week ban in 2023, while even states with few abortion limits, such as Colorado and New Mexico, saw declines of about 2,400 between 2023 and 2024, according to the report.
In Wisconsin, abortions rose by 388% between 2023 and 2024, rising from 1,300 to 6,100, the report found. Arizona, California, Kansas, Ohio and Virginia all saw increases of over 3,000 within the same time frame.
The number of people traveling out of state for abortions also declined from 169,700 in 2023 to 155,100 in 2024, with Illinois, North Carolina, Kansas and New Mexico seeing the most out-of-state patients, Guttmacher found. However, a larger share of individuals have turned to online clinics for abortion pill prescriptions, with about 40,000 more abortions occurring through this method nationwide in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Several states have passed greater restrictions on abortions following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, which sent the debate over legal limits back to the states.
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