7 May 9-15, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | A bortion clinics and women’s care facilities throughout Florida have been turning away patients while scrambling to provide counseling this week in response to the state’s new law banning abortions after six weeks of gestation. Although the law has been on the books since 2023 and the legal saga that paved the way for its implementation was lengthy, clinics are on unfamil- iar ground, struggling to find the right approach to help pregnant women in crisis, many of whom re- main unaware of the new restrictions. Woman’s Center of Hollywood tells New Times it had to turn away approximately 20 patients in the days before and on Wednesday, May 1, the day the law was implemented. Some of the patients were confused, frustrated, and had no idea the restrictions were going into effect. Because of Florida’s 24-hour waiting period that requires two in-person appointments to get an abortion, patients who arrived at clinics before the law became active Wednesday were still unable to undergo the procedure. “We’ve had to turn away a lot of people, letting them know that we were unable to assist them, and that they would have to find somebody out of state,” the center’s op- eration manager, Kimberly Guzman, tells New Times. Under the new law, it is a third-degree felony to per- form or “actively participate in” an abortion after six weeks gestation. Since gestational age is calculated from the first day of a woman’s last menstrual period, the law gives women no more than two weeks to go through the abortion process. Guzman says that the clinic has been encounter- ing patients who were unaware of the previous 15- week abortion ban that was enacted following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. “So if we are still talking to you about a law that changed two years ago, I can’t imagine how this is going to go,” she says. As neighboring states have anti-abortion laws that are as strict or stricter than Florida’s new law, some clinics are providing patients with information about options in North Carolina (the nearest state with abortion access after six weeks gestation) and the Northeast. Although North Carolina allows abor- tions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, the state man- dates a 72-hour waiting period, making it difficult for out-of-state patients who have limited financial resources for lodging. At Woman’s Center of Hollywood, counselors have encouraged patients to go to Connecticut or New York, where there are no waiting periods. Guz- man says, however, that many cannot afford to travel - and some abortion clinics jack up their prices knowing people are coming from out of state, desperate for help. “A lot of the patients are in a financial situation where traveling that far just might not be an op- tion,” she adds. “Either it’s their jobs that they can’t take off, or they need somebody to help watch their children.” Jamarah Amani, midwife and executive director of the Southern Birth Justice Network (SBJN), tells New Times the nonprofit’s work will get harder and more demanding with the six-week ban in place. There was already an increased demand for the group’s services under the 15-week ban. The Miami-based organization provides community-based mid- wifery and doula care, focusing on Black, immigrant, indigenous, LGBTQ, and low-income commu- nities to address disparities in in- fant and maternal mortality rates. SBJN trains birthing and abortion doulas, advocates for better health services for women and families, and provides a range of educational programs. Similar to doulas for the birthing process, abortion doulas support people before, during, and after terminating their pregnancy. (The doula does not perform the abortion; rather, they are there to take the patient to the clinic and stay by their side during the procedure.) “We’re going to need to be able to mobilize re- sources more quickly and get information to people on the prevention side,” Amani says. “Prevention is not a solution to this crisis that’s being created by this ban. But it is certainly a tool that we have to ad- vocate for comprehensive sex-ed so more people have fertility awareness, to advocate for our rights, and to hold governments accountable because ulti- mately, we have a right to our health.” The nonprofit’s mobile midwife clinic provides maternal healthcare from prenatal checkups to postpartum care. Amani says doulas and midwives will be even more essential in this new Women’s care facilities react to Florida’s six-week abortion ban. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN C L I N I C A L LY D I S T U R B E D patients, some of whom were unaware it was going into effect. Clinics have been providing patients seeking abortions with information on options in North Carolina and New England states. Polls show broad support for abortion rights in Florida, though it’s unclear whether backing is sufficient to meet the 60 percent threshold to pass the November ballot measure. In a 716-person survey conducted by the University of North Florida in the fall of 2023, 62 percent of respondents said they’d vote yes on the measure. Of 2,020 Florida respondents in a Pew Research Center poll, about 56 percent said they believed abortion should be legal in “most cases.” >> p8 “These aren’t just patients who are coming in that didn’t follow their calendar. There are patients who have conditions that won’t let them carry children.” Photo-illustration by Kristin Bjornsen / Source image via Adobe Stock
