A six-week abortion ban went into effect in Florida on May 1, removing a bastion of reproductive health care for women in South Carolina and across the Southeast.
Prior to the ban, abortions in the Sunshine State were available up to 15 weeks into a pregnancy, but surrounding states like Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina had much tighter restrictions. Now for women across much of the Southeast, North Carolina is the closest state with legal access to abortions. But it was already seeing some of the highest waiting-times in the nation — up to 72 hours for some patients — before Florida’s ban.
“Now, a system that is already overwhelmed is ready to functionally collapse,” Kelli Parker, spokeswoman for the Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network, told the Charleston City Paper. She added that about half of all abortions in Florida were provided to out-of-state women.
Between out-of-state people and Florida residents, more than 86,000 people per year on average sought abortions in Florida, according to Planned Parenthood director of public affairs Vicki Ringer.
‘A crisis for women’
Ringer emphasized the increased demand for abortions in North Carolina and in Virginia to the north will be the biggest impact of Florida’s ban. She said both states are working to increase their access by hiring more staff and extending operating hours, but the numbers will be “staggering.”
“This creates a crisis for women throughout the Southeast,” she said. “Some women may have to travel to other states which provide abortions past 12 weeks.”
An interactive map published May 1 by The New York Times shows the dramatic change in access over the last three years. In 2021, abortion was legal in every state, and the average person lived less than 25 miles from a clinic. By March 2024, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia were the only Southeastern states offering abortions, with Florida having the nearest clinic for more than 6.4 million people. Parts of South Carolina were more than 100 miles from a clinic. Now, people across the region may have to travel hundreds of miles to reach a clinic. The distance from Charleston to a clinic in Wilmington, N.C., for example, is about 175 miles.
Jace Woodrum, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina , said it’s important to stress that those affected most by abortion bans like this are often already-marginalized people and communities.
“Due to the reckless decisions of unaccountable lawmakers, our entire region is becoming an increasingly dangerous place for pregnant people,” he said in a statement. “The spread of extreme abortion bans across the Southeast has worsened the already vast disparities in access to healthcare along racial and economic lines.”
The ‘only path forward’
Several efforts are underway to protect reproductive rights from further harm, Ringer said, including a petition campaign to gather signatures to present to the S.C. legislature to repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban.
The most important tool that people have at their disposal, however, Parker said, is to vote.
“The only path forward is replacing the politicians who are making these decisions in the first place,” she said. “We don’t get to put ballot initiatives on the ballots in South Carolina, and that puts us at a disadvantage. Politicians are not medically experts, yet they are interfering in medical decisions making on a regular basis.”
Woodrum agreed, adding that in every district, voters have said they do not agree with strict abortion bans.
“We know that, regardless of party affiliation, South Carolinians and other Southerners do not support extreme abortion bans like the ones passed in South Carolina and Florida,” he said. “We encourage supporters of reproductive freedom to sign the Repeal the Ban petition and keep the pressure on our lawmakers.”
Ringer, too, said voting for politicians who support reproductive health care is key.
“The most valuable tool everyone has to regain abortion rights and protect IVF and birth control is the vote,” Ringer said. “Find out who your state senator and state representative are and how they voted to ban abortion. Help elect their opponent. Only when our legislature represents the people of South Carolina and our opinions will we begin to see some freedoms return and a focus on the needs of the people.”
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