TAMPA, Fla. — Floridians looking to get an abortion are reportedly facing longer wait times in states where the procedure remains legal.
Clinics in states across North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C., have seen increased wait times, with North Carolina having the biggest increase as people from other states try to travel to get access to the procedure, according to The Washington Post.
The outlet cited a study conducted by a professor of economics at Middlebury College in Vermont and a team of undergraduate students collected data from clinics in six states and D.C. for the date of the next available appointment for an abortion after the six-week mark.
The average Floridian lives about 590 miles from the nearest clinic that offers the procedure after six weeks and will need to wait nearly 14 days to get an abortion, which is a large increase from the average 20-mile drive and five-day wait before the ban, the Post found.
Florida's latest abortion ban went into effect on May 1, which outlaws the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy with few exceptions.
It’s one of the country’s most restrictive abortion bans that was challenged in the state’s Supreme Court, but justices ultimately upheld the 15-week ban, which turned into the six-week ban.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion bans took effect in most Republican-controlled states. Fourteen states prohibit it and three others prohibit it after six weeks.
The Post found fewer Florida women appear to be leaving the state for abortion care. Instead, they are using telemedicine and abortion pulls. At least 8,000 women each month are obtaining the pills by mail in states with strict abortion bans, according to a study by the Society of Family Planning.
Florida’s law prohibits telehealth appointments for abortion but some people are using out-of-state physicians to prescribe the medication. Doctors in states where the procedure is illegal are using shield laws to protect themselves when they send abortion pills to patients in states that ban or sharply restrict abortion.
States like Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and Washington have protections in place to protect health care providers.
Doctors at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida are helping patients look for care in other states if they cannot get the procedure in Florida. Some of the options they look at are in North Carolina and Virginia.
Abortion access could expand if voters say “yes” to a ballot initiative in November. The amendment to be voted on would block the state from prohibiting abortion up to the point of viability, which is usually around 24 weeks of pregnancy.