abortions

Among the priorities of students advocating for abortion rights: expanding access to contraception and promoting Amendment 4, which would allow abortions in Florida until fetal viability.

The deputy secretary of state has asked election supervisors in Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola and Palm Beach counties to gather roughly 36,000 signatures to review.

Whether scrambling to get patients abortions before six weeks or helping them to clinics in other states, the groups say a lot more help is needed since the restrictions went into effect.

Of Florida's 40,499 abortions reported this year as of Aug. 1, 37,551 were in the first trimester of pregnancy, 2,945 were in the second trimester and three were in the final trimester, state data show.

Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment filed an argument over whether Florida's Senate president and House speaker had the authority to direct a state panel to revise the statement.

One of the states where abortions increased was Florida. That changed in April, when a ban after six weeks' gestation took effect. The data doesn't yet reflect that change.

Anti-abortion advocates want to open more of these transitional housing facilities to meet a growing need. But they also must overcome a traumatic legacy of coerced adoptions in the decades before Roe.

Study authors acknowledged that the increase of less than a percentage point is small. But the data suggests that it could number in the hundreds of thousands of women.

The court issued orders that said it has “expedited” proceedings in the cases, which involve a battle between Floridians Protecting Freedom and state officials related to Amendment 4.

Floridians Protecting Freedom contends the House speaker and Senate president did not have the authority to direct a panel to revise the statement after a circuit judge rejected an earlier version.