By Gabriella Borter and Joseph Ax
(Reuters) - Florida's ban on abortions past six weeks of pregnancy takes effect this week, threatening the future of the state's clinics and abortion funds and forcing patients to travel hundreds of miles to get the procedure.
Phones have been ringing off the hook at clinics and funds in Florida ahead of the Wednesday enforcement date, as newly pregnant abortion-seekers scramble to book appointments before they may have to travel as far as Virginia or New York to get an abortion, eight clinic and fund workers told Reuters. Most women are not aware they are pregnant at six weeks.
The new law, which lowers the abortion limit from 15 weeks, will have a broader effect across the U.S. South, where 11 other states have already largely outlawed the procedure.
Florida had been a refuge for abortion-seekers in states such as Alabama and Georgia since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, clearing the way for strict statewide bans to take effect.
In 2023, according to state data, about 7,700 of some 84,000 abortions performed in Florida were for out-of-state residents, nearly 60% higher than two years earlier.
Now patients across the region will be forced to travel north if they need abortions, while those who cannot afford it may have no access at all.
Anti-abortion advocates have praised the law, with the national organization SBA List calling it a "victory for unborn children." Abortion rights advocates are pinning their hopes for restoring access on a November ballot proposal to protect abortion rights in the state.
Abortion funds, which help needy patients pay for their procedure and sometimes cover childcare and transportation, are bracing for a surge in expenses as in-state patients travel long distances to access abortions.
Independent clinics, many of which employ a tiny staff, fear they may need to close once they are forced to stop providing most procedures.
"It's going to be a lot harder and a lot more expensive to help the same number of people. We're going to try to maintain this as best we can, but we are very afraid," said Daniela Martins, a board member at Women's Emergency Network, a Miami-area abortion fund.
Patients who need to travel out of state cost, on average, about $1,200 to $1,500, three times as much as those seeking care in Florida, Martins said.
CASH CRUNCH
Funds are tapping into their donor networks, making fundraising appeals on social media and working with funds and clinics in other states to defray costs. The nearest state that allows abortions through 12 weeks of pregnancy is North Carolina, but fund workers said they will likely avoid sending patients there because the state's 72-hour waiting period makes it impractical for out-of-state visitors.
Instead, patients may be sent to destinations such as Washington, D.C., New York or Illinois, where abortion remains legal.
Four Florida abortion funds said they will not have enough resources to meet demand after Wednesday. Their donations have dwindled drastically since the months after the Supreme Court decision, when the ruling fueled a wave of what advocates called "rage donations" in 2022.
The Tampa Bay Abortion Fund received $311,000 in donations in July of that year, board member McKenna Kelley said.
This month it raised about $14,000, Kelley said, underscoring the financial squeeze that has forced it to limit how much it gives per patient and focus on fundraising.
"We're going to be sending pretty much all of our callers out of state now," Kelley said. "It's going to be millions of dollars that we don't have."
Florida has around 50 clinics, with about half operating independently from larger groups such as Planned Parenthood. Several clinics told Reuters they are not sure how long they can stay open after the ban.
Some are raising the costs of other services and relying on support from national organizations like the Abortion Care Network.
Leda Lanza, manager of East Cypress Women's Center in the Fort Lauderdale area, said she had reached out to charities for aid and raised the price of an ultrasound from $100 to $150.
"We're going to be open until I run out of the last penny that I have," she said.
The last week has been especially frantic at clinics, as patients rushed to book appointments before the deadline.
"Right now I can't answer the phones fast enough," said Candace Dye, who runs A Woman's World Medical Center in Fort Pierce.
Many clinics are trying to survive at least until November, when voters will decide whether to approve a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights.
As patients arrived at A Choice for Women clinic in North Miami Beach this week, medical assistant Francis Placencio said she had one message for them: "I advise them to make sure they vote."