NAPLES, Florida. — Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, many states passed stronger pro-life laws and saw abortions decline.
But in Florida, the number of abortions was higher in 2022 than it had been in years — a trend Community Pregnancy Clinics CEO Scott Baier said is being driven in part by women coming to Florida from out-of-state to have abortions. Community Pregnancy Clinics (CPCI) is the largest system of pro-life crisis pregnancy clinics in Florida and has been helping pregnant women choose life for their babies since 1974, a year after the 1973 Roe decision.
“What you may not realize is that since the Dobbs decision came out in June, abortions have actually increased in the state of Florida with us being an abortion-destination state for women from our border states because their abortion laws are currently more restrictive than ours,” Baier told hundreds of donors and volunteers in Naples, Florida last weekend at the first annual Community for Life Event since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“Barring pending legislation, which may or may not happen, currently babies under 15 weeks are not protected by the law, while 90 percent of all abortions happen in the first trimester,” he continued.
Baier said in an interview with Breitbart News this week that clinics in Pensacola near Florida’s border tell him they have seen an influx of women coming to Florida for abortions from states like Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia, which all have more restrictive laws than Florida’s 15-week ban. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the 15-week ban in April of 2022; the law went into effect that July and remains in effect while it faces legal challenges. DeSantis has since said he would approve a 6-week heartbeat law, but no such legislation has made it to his desk.
Data from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) confirms that Florida saw thousands more women coming from out of state for abortions in 2022 compared to previous years, as well as more abortions overall and more second trimester abortions. In 2022, 6,708 abortions were performed on out-of-state patients, up from 4,873 in 2021, and 3,988 in 2020.
Earlier reports with incomplete AHCA abortion data suggested overall abortions in the Sunshine State would decrease after the Dobbs decision. However, with the full year’s worth of data provided in early February, the number is much higher than anticipated, surpassing prior years. In 2022, Florida saw 82,192 total abortions, 75,118 of which were in the first trimester, and 7,074 in the second trimester, according to the AHCA. In 2021, there were 79,817 total abortions, 74,967 of which were in the first trimester, and 4,850 in the second trimester. The year 2020 saw 74,868 total abortions, with 70,594 in the first trimester and 4,274 in the second trimester.
Baier noted that pregnancy clinics in the southern part of the state are not seeing as many out-of-state patients, but more pregnant women have been seeking services because they are struggling under the weight of inflation and the floundering economy.
“There is a greater need because there is a greater cost for women in general,” he said.
AHCA data also show that more women cited social or economic reasons for having an abortion in 2022 compared to years prior. Last year, 18,351 abortions were for social or economic reasons, compared to 16,983 in 2021, and 15,271 in 2020.
“I think what Winston Churchill said after the second world war is especially relevant today,” Baier said of CPCI’s mission in a post-Roe Florida. “This is not the end, this is not the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who was keynote speaker at the Community for Life Event, echoed Baier’s sentiment. She said in part:
And then you look at the current White House, where my successor, Jen Psaki, came to the podium and she was asked by a reporter if a baby is a baby at 15 weeks. A baby at 15 weeks has eyes. A baby at 15 weeks can sense light, although the eyes of the baby are closed. A baby has a heartbeat at 15 weeks. A baby has arms and legs that are moving rapidly. A baby has a separate DNA code — that happens from the get-go. And the press secretary would not say if a baby is a baby at 15 weeks. We live in troubling times.
“The job is not done. In fact, the task before us as a pro-life movement is even greater,” McEnany added.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Baier did estimate that CPCI helped save 1,626 babies from abortion last year alone, which, for perspective, is enough human beings to make up the entire student population of an average size high school. Baier estimated that CPCI has saved 20,000 babies from abortion since it began in 1974.
CPCI is at a “critical time for growth,” and is focused on expanding its services around the state, especially as abortions increase and women are facing more economic hardship, Baier said. CPCI currently has five professionally staffed medical clinics and two mobile medical clinics serving seven counties in the state. The clinics offer needed assistance, free pregnancy tests, ultrasound exams, STI testing, counseling, referrals to community partners including adoption agencies and many others, gifted necessities for three years after the baby is born, and abortion pill reversals.
“To meet the challenge at hand, CPCI continues to explore how we make expansion across the entire state of Florida a reality, first going to three more university towns where the abortion rates are the highest and unfortunately causes Florida [to be] the third worst in the nation for total number of abortions,” he said. CPCI offers services on several Florida college campuses already, including Florida Southwest, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and at its flagship campus clinic at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
“…We will continue to go where young men and women are with our mobile units, at colleges and universities, and with technological resources that are cutting edge,” he said.