Florida has recorded its first drop in abortions since Roe vs. Wade was overturned in 2022, according to data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
When approached for comment, the office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pointed Newsweek to his comments from a press conference on Friday.
Newsweek contacted the Florida Department of Health out of hours via email for comment.
Why It Matters
In November, Florida voters failed to pass an amendment that would have eased abortion restrictions, making it the first state since the fall of Roe vs. Wade to reject such a measure.
Florida legislation, which came into effect in May 2024, meant that its residents would not have access to a legal abortion in the state beyond six weeks of pregnancy. The restriction replaced the previous ban on abortion after 15 weeks.
What To Know
The amendment gained significant support, but fell short of the 60 percent needed to amend the state constitution. The outcome served as a political victory for Governor Ron DeSantis, who directed GOP funds toward defeating the measure.
The drop in abortions reflects the growing challenge for women in the state to access them, potentially forcing them to seek care in other states.
Throughout 2024, there was a total of 60,755 abortions in the state, which was down by 28 percent compared to 84,052 in 2023, according to data on the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration.
The county with the steepest decline in abortions was Dixie County in north-central Florida, where the number of abortions fell by 54 percent, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Per the outlet, even the state's three biggest counties by population saw a drop in abortions—Miami-Dade, Broward and Hillsborough each registered a 20 percent decrease.
There were only two counties that saw an increase in the number of abortions in 2024 compared to 2023—Calhoun in the Panhandle and Glades, west of Lake Okeechobee, the Times reported.
Before Florida's six-week abortion ban was implemented in May last year, the state's 15-week rule made it the least restrictive of any state in the Southeast, meaning that there was an increase in the number of out-of-state visitors getting abortions in Florida between 2022 and 2023.
Following the start of the new ban, the number of non-Florida residents who had an abortion in the state in 2024 dropped by 51 percent, which was the first decline in five years.
The change to its restrictions meant that Florida's abortion legislation became more in line with other states in the Southeast.
Georgia and South Carolina both have six-week abortion bans, while Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas enacted total abortion bans with limited exceptions.
What People Are Saying
Ron DeSantis said at a press conference in Ponte Vedra on Friday: "We've been able to save lives and that matters to a lot of people.
"It may not matter to everyone right now, but it matters to me.... If you believe in a culture of life, that's a positive indication for sure."
What's Next
After Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was officially appointed as President Donald Trump's Department of Health and Human Services secretary, it is possible that there will be wider changes to abortion legislation across the country.
Update 2/17/25, 11:35 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a response from the office of Ron DeSantis.
About the writer
Jasmine Laws is a Live News Reporter at Newsweek based in London, U.K. Her focus is reporting on U.S. politics, ... Read more