Flordia’s 6-week abortion ban means Louisiana women will have to travel farther, wait longer

The state of Florida, a recent haven for women in the Deep South seeking to terminate their pregnancies in the post-Dobbs era, will ban abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy starting May 1, further narrowing access to the procedure for Louisiana residents.

Nearly 1,200 Louisiana women traveled to Florida for abortions in 2023, roughly three times the number who sought the procedure there two years earlier, according to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. Louisiana residents made up about 15% of Florida’s 7,736 out-of-state abortions last year. 

The ban may be temporary. While upholding the 6-week abortion threshold earlier this month, Florida’s Supreme Court also ruled that a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion “before viability,” which is typically around 24 weeks, would be on the November ballot.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Louisiana residents will have to travel farther and wait longer to get appointments in states other than Florida. The closest states are North Carolina, which offers abortions up to 12 weeks; Virginia, which allows the procedure until the third trimester; Illinois, which offers abortion until viability; and Kansas, where abortion is legal until 22 weeks.

“That inundates them,” said Kendra Smith-Parks, communications manager at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in New Orleans. “Right now, we’re one of the most restricted regions, and patients are left with fewer and further options.”

Louisiana residents seeking Florida abortions skyrocketed

Even as Florida tightened the window in which women could get abortions, Louisiana residents continuing seeking them there in increasing numbers.

In 2021, 380 Louisiana residents traveled to Florida to terminate their pregnancies, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration. In 2022, when the abortion ban in Louisiana came down mid-year, the number rose to 910. Then in 2023, the first full year after the near-total ban was enacted, 1,191 Louisiana residents received abortions in Florida, which provided the procedure up to 15 weeks.

Although Florida requires two visits 24 hours apart before an abortion will be performed, the distance and familiarity made it an easier option than flying to a state with less cumbersome requirements for some Gulf South residents.

“A lot of people we’ve spoken to coming out of Texas and Louisiana, some of them have never flown,” said Smith-Parks. “Some are undocumented and are afraid of being detained.”

From June 2022 to January of this year, Planned Parenthood Gulf South has spent about $870,000 assisting around 2,000 women with abortions. With Florida no longer an option for most, Parks said costs the organization paid for, such as gas, flights and childcare, will be more expensive.

The distance also will likely influence whether some choose to continue an unwanted pregnancy, said Michelle Erenberg, executive director of Lift Louisiana, an abortion rights advocacy group.

“Louisiana is honestly the worst-positioned state in the entire country when it comes to abortion access now,” said Erenberg. “The number of states to traverse in order to find a state in which they can access legal abortion is just monumental and will be insurmountable.”

To get an abortion in Florida after May 1, patients would need to find out they were pregnant in the fifth week of pregnancy, which might be one week after a missed period.

Increased funding for crisis centers

Alongside the six-week ban, Florida is giving $25 million to the Florida Pregnancy Care Network, a group of crisis pregnancy centers that counsel women not to have abortions and may offer supplies like diapers and strollers, though some such centers have been found to provide inaccurate or misleading information about abortions. Unlike Louisiana’s law, Florida’s law allows for exceptions for rape and incest up to 15 weeks, but requires an accompanying police or medical report.

Louisiana lawmakers voted to increase funding for similar centers from $1 million to $3 million starting July 1.

Anti-abortion groups pointed to the crisis centers as a resource for the potential additional pregnancies and births that may occur in the state as a result of Florida’s ban. 

“Our hope would be that the 1,200 women would look to Louisiana’s local services,” said Sarah Zagorski, director of communications for Louisiana Right to Life, adding that findhelp.org, a site can help families during and after pregnancy.