“Before, on a normal working day, I saw about 25 patients. Today, I see 45. There is a huge demand,” says this doctor who preferred to remain anonymous, for fear of receiving threats from anti-abortion activists.
Even though the deadline to be able to have an abortion was reduced from 24 to 15 weeks of pregnancy in July in Florida, this state remains one of the most tolerant places in the southeastern United States in terms of the right to abortion. .
Around, other conservative states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia have almost completely banned this practice or reduced its period to six weeks, after the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse the constitutional right to abort in last June.
Many women have no choice but to travel to clinics like this one, run by the family planning organization Planned Parenthood.
“We are in dire straits, I would call it a public health emergency,” says Laura Goodhue, local manager for Planned Parenthood.
She would like to be able to bring to Florida, a few days a week, doctors who can no longer practice in their states.
Because here, working hours have had to be extended, up to 12 hours a day in some clinics, whose doors are now also open on weekends to cope with the influx of women from Texas, Georgia and others. and Alabama.
– Many obstacles –
In the kitchen of the Jacksonville clinic, Dr. D. rests between two patients.
With her work, she has found herself on the front line observing the consequences of recent restrictions on abortion.
“It’s very discouraging to see all this,” said the 33-year-old doctor.
To come to her, women must take several days off, as Florida now requires that they attend two dates in person, at least 24 hours apart, before to have an abortion, she explains.
They must also find a means of transport, find accommodation on the spot and have their children looked after if they have any.
Obstacles which are added to the reduction of the legal deadline for an abortion in Florida.
“Unfortunately, if when they arrive here and we do the ultrasound, we realize that they are more than 15 weeks old, then we cannot help them,” explains Ms D.
In this case, “they are provided with the information to travel to other states. And that only prolongs their journey to access this essential health service,” she says.
Some 450 kilometers from Jacksonville, in the Planned Parenthood clinic located in West Palm Beach, Jasmine, an assumed name, is preparing for a surgical abortion.
At 23, she found herself pregnant after the condom used with a boy she had been seeing for three months broke. The morning after pill, ordered on the internet, arrived too late.
She hesitated for a long time before making her decision, but prefers to have an abortion to finish her studies at university. “I know this is what’s best for me, even though it’s a tough decision,” she explained. “One night’s mistake doesn’t have to lead to permanent life change”.
She herself lives in Florida, and has trouble imagining what those from another state must experience.
But the Supreme Court’s decision also brought added stress for her: “In Florida, you have up to 15 weeks, and that could have changed at any time, like in the other states. It was a lot of crying and of anxiety.”