Florida ban on abortions after six weeks goes into effect

2024-05-01 16:37:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

On May 1, a new law came into force in Florida in the US that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy - when many women may not yet know they are pregnant. Some doctors have expressed concern that women will no longer have access to necessary health care.

Leah Roberts, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist with Boca Fertility, says the anti-abortion laws passed by Florida and other Republican-led states are being written by people who don't understand medical science.

The rules not only affect women who want abortions due to personal choice, but also unstable pregnancies for women who want to have children.

The new ban excludes the ban on abortions when talking about saving a woman's life, as well as in cases involving rape and incest. But Roberts says health care workers are prevented from performing abortions in unstable pregnancies that they know could become fatal, such as when the fetus lacks organs.

In addition to the physical danger, there is also the psychological trauma of having to carry a fetus that the mother knows will never be a healthy child, Roberts said.

"They feel the shock for months after being told they will never have a live birth," Roberts said.

The team of the American president, Joe Biden, blamed former president Donald Trump for the "extreme" ban.

"Trump is worried that voters will hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he created. You are right. Trump took away the rights and freedom of women in America. This November, voters will teach him a valuable lesson: Don't mess with the women of America," Biden said in a statement about the new abortion ban. Roberts said she is concerned the restrictions will prompt veteran doctors to leave Florida, as they have in other states that have passed abortion bans.

"We're going to have less access to care for our general population, even if it's just basic maternity care and normal gynecological care because people are leaving," Roberts said.

In addition, women will have to travel far from home to have an abortion.

The Florida Supreme Court, with five of its seven members appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, ruled last month in favor of banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, paving the way for a six-week abortion ban. The 15-week ban, signed by DeSantis in 2022, was in effect while it was being challenged in court. The six-week ban, passed by the Legislature a year later, was written so that it would not take effect until a month after the 2022 law was passed.

Most Republican-controlled states have passed abortion bans or restrictions since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. / Rel