Dr. Cherise Felix said a recent patient screamed and swore at her and ended up hugging her, grateful that she would no longer have to carry the baby she had planned to die in.
Felix performed the abortion at a family planning clinic in Florida, which banned abortions at six weeks of pregnancy on May 1. Because of the limited health exceptions to abortion laws, she was able to see the patient, who was approximately 17 weeks pregnant. But patients who miscarried were turned away by another gynecologist before coming to the clinic, something Felix said has happened regularly since the ban.
“They have to walk around carrying pregnant women who have passed away, and it was a much-wanted pregnancy, but doctors are reluctant to treat them because the law is so unstable and constantly changing. No,” Felix told The State Newsroom.
She is one of many doctors in Florida who say the six-week ban is having an impact. Disrupting reproductive health care and between more 850 doctors supported this week Citizen-initiated ballot initiative to restore abortion rights. If it receives 60% of the vote, the Fourth Amendment would legalize abortion until the fetus is viable, and thereafter for fetal and maternal health issues.
But if that fails, advocates predict that after Roe v. Wade is overturned in 2022, access to reproductive health will decline further across the Southeast, which relied on Florida. . A strong wall prohibiting abortion In the South, near-total bans include Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have imposed six-week curfews. North Carolina imposes a 12-week curfew.
“I hope it passes. 60% is very hopeful, but I think the alternative is scarier,” Felix said. “If you allow government intervention in testing sites, this is not going to end there. … It is starting to creep into people who never thought they would participate in family planning … but it is not just medical care. It’s starting to spread into the field.”
How reproductive access is already changing in Florida and beyond.
Yet gynecologists and hospitals remain confused and fearful about Florida’s abortion ban. Guidelines from the Department of Health It said it would not preclude management of miscarriages or treatment of specific symptoms.
At a recent press conference hosted by Floridians Protecting Freedom, which leads the “Yes on 4” campaign, Miami-based obstetrician-gynecologist Chelsea Daniels, M.D., said she recently examined patients who were eight weeks pregnant, and all four He said he underwent four ultrasounds from different doctors. Although it showed that her pregnancy was not growing, they still did not perform an abortion.
“She needed an abortion because the risk of infection and bleeding increases with each passing day,” said Daniels, who works for family planning organizations in South, East and North Florida. “I can understand why the other four doctors turned her down. They were afraid. The exception criteria is very narrow and cannot accommodate every case. If the state challenges the decision, the doctor could be fined, lose his license, and go to prison.The case was very clear medically, but legally. It was vague.”
Felix will work for the same affiliated company as Daniels, a Tennessee native who banned abortions in 2022. She told States Newsroom it was a career-coming full-circle moment. This is because we have seen the slow politicization of routine miscarriage procedures such as common methods such as dilation and curettage. To clean a patient’s uterus when the body has not expelled all fetal tissue. She said that when she first became an obstetrician-gynecologist and worked in a hospital, miscarriage management was provided within the hospital, then with the support of an ethics committee, and then referred to a high-risk specialist, and recently said that in their experience, miscarriage management was isolated. Abortion clinic.
“The management of miscarriage is still the management of abortion,” Felix says. “It’s just a spontaneous miscarriage. So that code gets sent to the insurance company. That raises a flag.”
Health care providers told State Newsroom they are also turning away many patients who try to terminate their pregnancies after six weeks, before many even realize they are pregnant. Planned Parenthood and independent abortion clinics in Florida have developed a system to help coordinate patients with clinics in other states. complex variable Bringing patients to every corner of the United States
Daniels told States Newsroom that she travels to Virginia and Maryland most weekends for abortions, and that many of her patients there end up coming from Florida.
“I was just there over the weekend, but the number of Floridians I saw here in Miami were coming from Fort Lauderdale, and both of us, giving and receiving things… I had to travel 1,200 miles to get the job done.” We actually live and work far from each other, but never mind,” Daniels said. “It feels like a farce and it feels like we can’t believe this is the world we live in.”
Daniels said he believes many people are continuing pregnancies that they wanted to end, and that no state will be able to accommodate this. Approximately 100,000 patients An abortion was performed in Florida in 2023. Many people are unable to travel due to lack of vacation, child care, or money. Abortion funds are running out. Some people turn to online abortion pill websites like Aid Access, whose founder, Dr. Rebecca Gomparts, told State Newsroom that since the ban went into effect, an average of 700 abortions per month have been completed. He said abortion prescriptions are being sent to Floridians slightly less than before. A few months.
The family planning clinic remains open in Florida and focuses on other important reproductive health services. But some independent abortion clinics that remain open through November say they may be forced to close, which would leave them open to the limited types of abortion care still allowed under Florida law. access is likely to decrease further.
Amber Gavin, vice president of advocacy and operations at A Woman’s Choice Clinic, said the Jacksonville clinic only sees about one-third of the patients it saw before the ban, and many Florida He said he is referring patients to North Carolina and North Carolina. Virginia location. Before the ban, the clinic had patients from all over the country, but especially from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, she said. Ta.
She told State Newsroom that A Woman’s Choice encourages patients to vote for the Fourth Amendment. This is because, given clinics’ declining profits, it is unclear whether they will be able to continue operating even if the clinic fails.
“Our staff are doing the best they can, but having to turn patients away or tell them we don’t have the funds is really taxing and demoralizing,” Gavin said.
Obstacles to restoring access to abortion
For Florida’s Amendment 4 to succeed, it would need to clear a supermajority vote, the highest standard for abortion rights ballot measures to date. Free Floridians also face growing opposition from the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Story of terminal cancer patient Away from the radio waves, Begin investigation into voter fraud That was the driving force lawsuit Abortion opponents are calling for the amendment to be taken off the ballot, even though Floridians have already begun voting. Recent research has revealed a fix Voter turnout 60%but others have it lacking.
Leaders of the Abortion Rights Vote campaign say they have raised $90 million so far, and despite these many obstacles, they see a path to victory. hurricane. This campaign was intentionally non-partisan messageacknowledged that they needed to win over supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to win the necessary 60% of the vote. At a recent press conference hosted by the Fairness Project, which has committed $30 million this cycle to support abortion rights voting measures campaigns across the country, Loren Brenzel, Florida’s Defend Freedom campaign director, said the state objected to the idea that the amendment would be a voting mechanism for Democrats. Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris and the Vote No Campaign.
“If we don’t repeal this November, the abortion ban will remain in place for decades to come,” Brenzel said. “[The amendment] It has no relation to other races. That’s because policies are currently failing Floridians. ”
People who lead the anti-abortion movement significantly exceeded expenses The campaign tried to vote against 4. Mobilizing Faithful Floridians Opposes an amendment that would restrict live abortions, the inexact moment when a developing fetus can survive outside the womb; Estimated 24 weeks. of Anti-abortion campaign claims They argued that the amendment’s unspecified restrictions and broad health exceptions could lead to “unrestricted” abortions.
The full text of the proposed amendment states: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, or delay abortion before viability or if, in the judgment of the patient’s health care provider, is necessary to protect the health of the patient.” , or shall not be restricted.”
The “4 to Vote No” campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Shortly after Yes on 4’s “Caroline” ad first aired on Oct. 1, the Florida Department of Health cease and desist letters He told a local TV station that the ad was “completely false” and threatened to bring criminal charges against the station for continuing to run the ad. In it, a 40-year-old Tampa mother of a 4-year-old said she was about 17 weeks pregnant with her second child in April 2022 when she discovered she had a terminal brain tumor. Doctors gave her one year to live with aggressive treatment, but the situation was extremely difficult. If she stays pregnant, it’s only a matter of time. Caroline, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her privacy, said the abortion was an accomplishment beyond a one-year prognosis that she could not have had now.
“When I had mine, I said to my husband, ‘Can you imagine if we lived in a state that didn’t offer this?'” Caroline told State Newsroom told. “I was in the ICU. I couldn’t fly. I couldn’t drive. And then everything fell apart in Florida. It was so cruel to me, like, how could something so cruel? It was an eye-opener.”
The state argues that Caroline’s situation could not have been avoided even under the ban. but Doctors reported The law is difficult for hospitals to interpret, requires additional visits, and can be time-consuming for patients. State Surgeon General’s cease and desist letters It argued that the two-physician requirement “is waived in cases of emergency medical procedures.” But many doctors say it’s unclear what constitutes an emergency medical procedure. of federal lawsuit Documents submitted by pro-abortion rights organizers to the state health department to stop threats against broadcasters include sworn statements from obstetricians and gynecologists and maternal health experts who say Florida did not allow Caroline to have an abortion. Contains books.
“Although the abortion was medically necessary because the cancer was terminal, the abortion would not save the patient’s life and therefore may be illegal under Florida law.”・Written by Sherry Xiaoying Tian, MD, who works at Parenthood of Southeast. Genesis Maternal and Child Medical Centers in North Florida and Tucson, Arizona;
A federal judge last week temporarily banned The DeSantis administration forced television stations to stop airing ads. According to court records, the DeSantis administration right behind Efforts to threaten broadcasters with criminal charges. “I want to use my voice while I have it,” Caroline told State Newsroom, noting that she temporarily lost the ability to speak when she was first diagnosed with a brain tumor.
“That was one of the first things I lost with this diagnosis, and luckily I’ve got it back so far,” Caroline said. “I want to do this for my daughter so she can have the same rights as me and my mother and for all patients diagnosed with cancer. Everyone’s. For.”
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