Central Floridians on both sides of abortion debate vow to keep fighting

It was a day of elation, heartbreak, resolve, hope and outrage as Central Floridians learned of Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that there is no constitutional right to abortion, overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade case that had been in place for nearly 50 years — with both abortion rights supporters and foes vowing to continue to fight.

“I’ve been working my entire lifetime for this moment since 1982,” said John Stemberger, president of the Orlando-based Florida Family Policy Council, a Christian advocacy group that opposes abortion. “It’s a bit overwhelming, and emotional. The court’s decision is clear and persuasive and solid constitutionally and morally. But this is not the end. It’s simply the beginning of the fight to protect unborn children, which now returns where it should be — to all 50 states.”

As he celebrated — and outlined plans to sway Florida lawmakers to embrace more limits on abortion — local abortion rights supporters somberly absorbed the news.

“Honestly, we’re heartbroken — even though this is something that we, unfortunately, have expected,” said Stephanie Loraine Pineiro, co-executive director of Florida Access Network, which advocates for reproductive rights and helps fund care. “Much of the country is already living in a post-Roe reality, and what’s happening is especially concerning in a state like Florida, where folks already have issues accessing health care and prenatal care.”

Already, her organization had been preparing for the newly passed Florida ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, set to go into effect July 1. After that point, Florida women will find the closest state to terminate a pregnancy after the cutoff — at least for now — is North Carolina.

“People who are more marginalized, like Black folks, will face even greater barriers,” Pineiro warned. “And forcing somebody to remain pregnant can be a death sentence, depending on that person’s health. Not everybody is ready to be a parent. Not everybody wants to be a parent. And no one should be forced to.”

Compared with abortion, continuing a pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of death. According to research published late last year, a total ban on abortion would be followed by a projected 21% increase in maternal mortality overall and a projected 33% increase for non-Hispanic Black women.

“This is a devastating blow to our collective freedom as women and Americans,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who worked for Planned Parenthood in Florida for six years before running for elective office. “For many of the women who make this decision, they’re doing it based on personal, private reasons. They’re trying to be not only better mothers with the children they already have, but they’re often trying to set themselves up for a stronger future. … Research tells us that if you take away the right to abortion, that individual is much more likely to either experience poverty or stay in poverty.”

The overruling of Roe v. Wade gives states the ability to make their own laws about abortion, unimpeded by the Constitution. Thirteen states have “trigger laws” that banned abortion as soon as Roe was overturned or will ban abortion over the next several weeks including Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi.

Influx to Florida of those seeking abortions

Planned Parenthood has already seen an influx of out-of-state women coming to Florida for abortions as neighboring states have passed increasingly restrictive legislation over the last few years. More are expected to come in the following weeks, said Stephanie Fraim, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, in a statement.

“This dangerous and chilling decision will have devastating consequences across the southeast and beyond, forcing people who can afford it to travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles for abortion care in Florida and other states where at least some access is still protected,” Fraim said.

Friday’s decision means the U.S. Constitution will not protect against Florida’s looming 15-week ban, nor a 24-hour waiting period that is already in effect.

Providers including Planned Parenthood are suing against the waiting period and cutoff, still hopeful they can overturn both laws on the basis of a state constitutional amendment that allows residents to be “free from governmental intrusion into the person’s private life.”

The law will still go into effect while litigation continues.

It allows exceptions if two doctors attest the termination of a pregnancy is necessary to save the mother from death or serious injury, or if the fetus has a “fatal fetal abnormality,” defined as a condition that will result in death at birth or immediately after. It does not allow exceptions for incest or rape.

Doctors have argued the bill’s exception for a “fatal fetal abnormality” does not cover all serious and life-threatening fetal conditions.

In addition, some fetal genetic defects cannot be easily identified until after week 15 of pregnancy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website states. Screening for heart defects, for instance, is typically done in the second trimester.

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Data also suggest the 15-week ban may disproportionately impact underprivileged populations.

A 2017 analysis of national data by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and policy organization, found that Black women were more likely than white women to get abortions in the second trimester, replicating prior research.

In addition, women without high school degrees, women relying on financial assistance to pay for an abortion and women who didn’t realize they were pregnant were more likely to get an abortion in their second trimester when compared to women without these characteristics.

Both supporters and opponents of the ruling vowed to help women seeking abortions going forward.

“We will be working with all 200 [pro-life Florida] pregnancy centers to provide additional financial and human support so that they can care for an increased number of women and their babies,” Stemberger said. “We can and should love them both. Adoption is always the better option.”

Pineiro said her group is pushing to counter the “stigma and shame” directed at those seeking abortion care.

“Our plan is to ensure that people who have abortions feel loved, affirmed and tangibly supported,” she said. “Abortion is nothing to be ashamed of. So with or without restrictions in place, we’re going to continue to care for our clients with compassion and continue funding Floridians’ abortion care and disrupting abortion stigma within the confines of the law.”

Planned Parenthood will continue to sue Florida on the basis that its 15-week cutoff violates the state constitution, Fraim said in a statement provided by the organization.

“We will not sit idly by while our freedoms are stripped away like this — we will not stop fighting for our rights,” Fraim said.

ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com; ksantich@orlandosentinel.com