Hochkamer and his team, along with Floridians Defending Freedom, are pushing for an amendment that would make it unconstitutional to pass laws that restrict abortion before viability or when necessary for the patient’s health. A total of 890,000 signatures are needed to get the initiative on the November 2024 general election ballot.
“The initiative we proposed is supported by 70 percent of Floridians and more than 60 percent of Republicans. Even 57 percent of self-identified Trump supporters support the initiative’s language. I agree,” she explains. These numbers are consistent with polls showing that more than half of Americans approve of access to abortion in all or most cases.
Florida bans abortions after 15 weeks and is one of 21 states that have since introduced restrictions on abortion rights. Roe vs. Wade It was turned upside down. Some of Florida’s neighbors have gone further, with Mississippi and Alabama banning abortion almost completely, and Georgia allowing women to obtain abortions only during the first six weeks of pregnancy.
But other groups are more pessimistic about abortion rights in Florida, predicting further restrictions soon. In April 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a six-week ban passed by the state Legislature. (The bill is pending a legal challenge to the state’s current 15-week ban in the Florida Supreme Court.)
Since then Dobbs, pro-choice organizations have led efforts on abortion access. Kamila Przytova is the director of Women’s Emergency Network (WEN), and since 1989 she has provided support to women seeking abortions through private donations.
“Getting an abortion out of state can cost between $500 and $1,000. For some women, that may mean having to choose between paying a utility bill or buying food. “No,” Przytova explains. WEN works with other organizations that receive cases from clinics and share a portion of the abortion costs. “It allows us to help everyone who approaches us for assistance,” she says.
Nearly one in five abortion patients in the United States traveled to another state to obtain an abortion in the first half of 2023, according to statistics released by the Guttmacher Institute. That number is double what it was in 2020.
Abortion bans particularly impact young women, black women, and immigrant women, who are the main populations who contact WEN. Among the many patients she has worked with, Przytva recalls the case of an illiterate, HIV-positive Central American woman. WEN provided financial support for abortions.
“She was very vulnerable and we learned about her case through the clinic that was treating her. A few months ago, she had moved north to Miami with her uncle. , her uncle had no way of knowing she was pregnant.” She was taken to a clinic in Miami and treated.
She is one of 600 women in Florida the organization has helped obtain abortions, and hundreds more in the state that faces some of the strictest abortion regulations in the country, with many forced to remain secret. She is one of millions of women.
This article was produced with support from the International Women’s Media Foundation as part of its Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, and Justice in the Americas initiative. It originally appeared in Spanish version of WIRED. Translated by John Newton.
