Abortion and Reproductive Rights: Information for Patients

As of May 1, 2024, abortion is banned after 6 weeks and 0 days of pregnancy in Florida (AbortionFinder.org, n.d.). Floridians will have the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment to guarantee access to abortion up to viability on November 5, 2024 (Mizelle, 2024).

It is legal to travel outside of Florida to obtain an abortion in another state. In addition to the 6-week ban, current restrictions on access to abortion in Florida include a 24-hour waiting period, which requires an in-person counseling appointment before waiting one full day to begin the procedure, and parental consent (or a judicial bypass) for patients under the age of 18. Florida does not allow telemedicine appointments to obtain a prescription for medication abortion at home (AbortionFinder.org, n.d.).

Floridians may choose either a surgical abortion, where the uterus is emptied via a procedure in a clinic, or a medication abortion, where the patient takes one or two kinds of medication to induce a miscarriage. Medication abortions are not recommended later in pregnancy as they work best in the first 11 weeks (Plan C, n.d.). 

Florida has more "crisis pregnancy centers" than abortion providers. Crisis pregnancy centers "are nonprofit organizations with a primary aim of keeping women from having an abortion (Crisis Pregnancy Center Map, n.d.). You can search for Florida on this map to see if a provider is a crisis pregnancy center.

There are two types of abortion procedures available: an in-clinic surgical abortion and a medication abortion. With a surgical abortion, a doctor performs the procedure in-clinic and the patient leaves no longer pregnant. With a medication abortion, the patient takes one or two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, and typically passes the pregnancy at home. Medication abortions are generally reserved for early pregnancies, before 11 weeks of gestation (Plan C, n.d.).