Florida abortions decline after heartbeat law

The heartbeat bill in Florida is working as lawmakers intended, new data reveals.

In the first full year of Florida’s six-week abortion limit, the number of abortions fell 28% from 84,052 in 2023 to 60,755, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

David Heyman, executive director of First Care, a crisis pregnancy center, said women are taking more precautions to prevent unwanted pregnancies. 

“Usually, culture changes and laws change to reflect those cultural changes,” Heyman told Health News Florida. “But the opposite can be true. Laws do impact culture.” 

Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami, hoped this would happen when she advocated for the bill’s passage. 

“I believe it will go a long way to help change hearts and minds influenced by a decade of anti-life culture that has demoted and devalued the important role of family,” Calatayud said on the Florida Senate floor in 2023. 

The steepest decline (54%) came in Dixie County in north central Florida with over 17,000 residents. 

The number of non-residents seeking abortions in Florida dropped 51% to 3,754, the first decline in five years.

The heartbeat bill, restricting abortions after six weeks, was enacted in May 2023. Previously, Florida outlawed abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

Florida’s heartbeat bill contains exceptions for rape, incest, human trafficking, fatal fetal abnormalities and to protect the life of the mother, with varying gestational limits.  

The decline comes after Florida saw a 1.8% increase in abortions from 2022, largely driven by what Gov. Ron DeSantis called “abortion tourism.” As other southeastern states restricted abortion, women from places like Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi traveled to the Sunshine State.  

Florida may see declining abortion numbers in years to come, as the pro-life side successfully defended the heartbeat bill at the ballot box last November. A measure to establish a state constitutional right to abortion until about 24 weeks received 57% of the vote, falling 3% short of the 60% required for passage.