Health

Florida’s Abortion Ban Will Reach Well Beyond Florida

Published

2 years ago

May 1, 2024

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Florida’s Abortion Ban Will Reach Well Beyond Florida

August 2021

Miles to nearest clinic offering abortions after 6 weeks

Source: Caitlin Myers, Middlebury College

As of Wednesday, Florida has banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. It will have far-reaching effects.

In 2021, abortion was legal in every state, and the average American woman lived less than 25 miles from a clinic.

But after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, some states banned all or most abortions, including many in the South.

Florida, North Carolina and Virginia were the only states in the South offering abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. For 6.4 million women, the nearest clinic was in Florida.

Now, that option is gone. Women in several states will need to travel hundreds of miles farther to reach a clinic.

It is the biggest change to abortion access since the period immediately after the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“This is a seismic event for everyone in the ecosystem,” said Jenny Black, the chief executive of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which operates in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. “It is impossible to overstate the impact of this ban on abortion access in the whole Southeast, probably all up the Eastern Seaboard.”

Florida, unlike much of the South, has long had many abortion clinics — more than 50, spread throughout the state. The average Florida woman lives less than 20 miles from one. Last year, clinics in Florida provided around 86,000 abortions, behind only California, New York and Illinois, according to estimates from the Guttmacher Institute.

Of those, more than 9,000 were for patients who came from other states, part of an influx after many Southern states banned or severely restricted abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

With few exceptions, women across the South who are beyond six weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they’re pregnant — will now have to travel much farther to a clinic for an abortion. Also, for around a decade, Florida has required two appointments 24 hours apart to get an abortion, making it harder to receive one before the six-week mark. In other states, six-week bans have decreased abortions by about half.

“We’re hopeful that not only will the numbers in Florida for abortions take a deep nosedive, but also it does have national implications,” said Andrew Shirvell, the founder and executive director of Florida Voice for the Unborn, a group that lobbied the Legislature for the ban. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has said he does not want the state to remain an “abortion tourism destination.”

Despite bans in 14 states, and restrictions in several others, the number of legal abortions nationwide is about the same as before Roe was overturned. Florida’s new ban could change that, researchers said — an illustration of how regional abortion access has become. Shutting down abortion access in one linchpin state, Florida, could reduce the number of abortions across the entire region, while in swaths of the rest of the country, abortion has remained accessible, and in some places has even become more so.

The maps above show how the distances to the nearest clinic have increased for women in the South who are more than six weeks pregnant, based on data from Caitlin Myers, a professor of economics at Middlebury College, who has been measuring the effects of abortion bans for years.

Women in Miami who are beyond six weeks will now need to travel more than 700 miles to reach the nearest clinics — in Charlotte, N.C., where state law requires two visits spread over three days. The current wait time there is a week or more to get an appointment, according to a recent survey of clinics led by Professor Myers. Otherwise, women would need to travel farther, to clinics in Virginia or Washington, D.C.

Driving distances would also increase by more than 100 miles for women in parts of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Percent of women in the South living less than 100 miles from a clinic offering abortions after 6 weeks

Percent of women in the South living more than 300 miles from a clinic offering abortions after 6 weeks

Includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Measurements are for women of reproductive age.

Source: Caitlin Myers, Middlebury College

“This is going to be the biggest change to abortion access since Dobbs, and the impact is clear: More people are going to have to travel further distances if they have the financial resources to do so, and many people will be forced to remain pregnant,” said Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro, executive director of Florida Access Network, which helps women in Florida pay for abortions and travel to clinics.

Clinic operators in North Carolina and Virginia say they are trying to expand capacity, but are already struggling to meet demand. Several clinics in those states are already reporting waits of two weeks for appointments, according to Professor Myers’s survey and interviews with clinic staffers.

Decades of research show that, as driving distances to abortion clinics increase, fewer women obtain abortions. The typical seeker of an abortion is poor, and often struggles to arrange transportation, time off from work, housing and child care to travel long distances.

Driving Distances Now

Miles to nearest clinic offering abortions after 6 weeks

Source: Caitlin Myers, Middlebury College

Yet there is uncertainty about the precise long-term effects of the ban. The same day the Florida Supreme Court allowed the six-week limit to go into effect, it also allowed a constitutional amendment on abortion to appear on the November ballot. If the amendment earns the support of 60 percent of voters, it will reverse the ban and protect abortion rights until about 24 weeks.

And in recent months, more women have been ordering abortion pills through telemedicine. This includes women in states with bans, who order from clinicians in states with laws that shield them from out-of-state prosecution.

Such abortions could become more common in the South. But some women are unaware of the option or uncomfortable managing an abortion without a nearby medical provider. Others are too far along in their pregnancies for the option — abortion pills are recommended by the Food and Drug Administration only during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

As a result, telemedicine is unlikely to replace all the abortions currently occurring in Florida. “I don’t think it means that everybody just perfectly substitutes it for traveling to a brick and mortar facility and seeing a provider in person,” Professor Myers said.

Health

Common nighttime noise exposure may trigger heart problems, study suggests

Published

7 hours ago

February 28, 2026

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Common nighttime noise exposure may trigger heart problems, study suggests

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Living near heavy traffic could negatively impact your heart health.

A European study, published in the journal Environmental Research, found that exposure to nighttime road traffic noise is linked to changes in the blood, leading to worsened cholesterol and cardiovascular risks.

The researchers considered data from the U.K. Biobank, Rotterdam Study, and Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, including more than 272,000 adults over the age of 30, according to a press release.

Nighttime road noise exposure was estimated at all participants’ homes based on national noise maps. Researchers also took blood samples to measure the participants’ metabolic biomarkers for disease, then mapped the link between nightly noise levels and existence of biomarkers.

Exposure to loud noise was associated with increased concentrations of cholesterol-related biomarkers. (iStock)

The study found that people exposed to louder noise at night — especially sounds above 55 decibels — showed changes in 48 different substances in their blood. Twenty of these associations “remained robust” throughout all cohorts.

Exposure to loud noise was associated with increased concentrations of cholesterol-related biomarkers, especially LDL “bad” cholesterol, IDL (intermediate-density lipoprotein) and unsaturated fatty acids.

NEARLY 90% OF AMERICANS AT RISK OF SILENT DISEASE — HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW

As noise levels increased, starting at around 50 decibels, cholesterol markers rose steadily, the release stated.

The authors concluded that this study “provides evidence that nighttime road traffic noise exposure from 50 dB upward is associated with alterations in blood cholesterol and lipid profiles in adults.”

Researchers noted a link between traffic noise and cardiometabolic disease. (iStock)

Study co-author Yiyan He, doctoral researcher at the University of Oulu in Finland, noted that in this type of research, small effect sizes are expected, and environmental exposures such as traffic noise are “typically modest.”

SIMPLE NIGHTLY HABIT LINKED TO HEALTHIER BLOOD PRESSURE, STUDY SUGGESTS

“Despite this, we observed statistically robust and consistent associations across many biomarkers, especially those related to LDL and IDL lipoproteins,” she told Fox News Digital.

MISSING SLEEP MAY TAKE A HIDDEN TOLL ON YOUR BRAIN AND LONGEVITY, RESEARCH REVEALS

“We also identified a clear exposure-response pattern starting at around 50 dB, suggesting that metabolic changes become more evident as noise levels increase.”

This aligns with public health guidance, as the World Health Organization recommends lower nighttime noise limits at around 40 to 45 dB, Yiyan He added.

“This finding may clarify the association between traffic noise and cardiometabolic diseases,” the researchers wrote. (iStock)

“The 55 dB level is often used as an interim benchmark associated with substantial noise annoyance and sleep disturbance,” she said. “In our study, we observed associations not only at 55 dB, but also indications of effects emerging at around 50 dB.”

The strength and consistency of the cholesterol-related associations were surprising, as these changes are usually “subtle.”

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“Instead, we found consistent associations across multiple large European cohorts, which strengthens confidence that the findings may reflect real biological patterns,” Yiyan He went on. “We were also interested to see that effects were minimal below ~50 dB, suggesting a possible threshold-like pattern.”

HEART DISEASE THREAT PROJECTED TO CLIMB SHARPLY FOR KEY DEMOGRAPHIC

The researcher noted that these findings were consistent across genders, education levels and obesity status.

The study was restricted to White Europeans, which posed a limitation. There was also a lack of information on the fasting status in the UK Biobank.

Changes in cholesterol levels were more severe than researchers expected. (iStock)

“Fasting can influence levels of certain metabolites, particularly fatty acids,” Yiyan He said. “However, based on UK Biobank documentation, fewer than 10% of participants were fasting for at least eight hours, and our main findings focused on cholesterol-related biomarkers, which are generally less sensitive to short-term fasting.”

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The researchers also lacked information on bedroom location, indoor noise exposure and time spent at home.

“These factors may introduce non-differential exposure misclassification,” Yiyan He said. “Additionally, noise exposure estimates were based on participants’ temporary residential addresses at the time of blood sampling, without considering the duration of residence.”

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“Many of these limitations would tend to bias results toward the null, so the consistent associations we observed remain noteworthy.”

Experts recommend taking measures to limit traffic noise at night. (iStock)

Based on this latest research, Yiyan He noted that nighttime noise is a “health-relevant exposure,” not just “an annoyance.”

“Our findings suggest that nighttime traffic noise may subtly but consistently affect metabolic health,” she said. “While the changes in cholesterol and lipid levels for any one individual are small, traffic noise affects a very large number of people, which means the potential public health impact could be substantial.”

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The researcher recommends taking measures like improving sound insulation, using noise-reducing strategies and placing bedrooms on the quieter side of the home when possible.

“Because sleep is a key pathway linking noise to health, protecting the nighttime sleep environment is especially important,” she added.

Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle reporter for Fox News Digital.

Health

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and a Faster Metabolism

Published

18 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and a Faster Metabolism

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and Fat Burn | Woman’s World

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