"Uncharted Territory": Miami Midwife, Women's Clinic React to Florida's Six-Week Abortion Ban

Abortion clinics and women's care facilities throughout Florida have been turning away patients while scrambling to provide counseling this week in response to the state's new law banning abortions after six weeks of gestation.

Although the law has been on the books since 2023 and the legal saga that paved the way for its implementation was lengthy, clinics are on unfamiliar ground, struggling to find the right approach to help pregnant women in crisis, many of whom remain unaware of the new restrictions.

Woman's Center of Hollywood tells New Times it had to turn away approximately 20 patients in the days before and on Wednesday, May 1, the day the law was implemented. Some of the patients were confused, frustrated, and had no idea the restrictions were going into effect. Because of Florida's 24-hour waiting period that requires two in-person appointments to get an abortion, patients who arrived at clinics before the law became active Wednesday were still unable to undergo the procedure.

"We've had to turn away a lot of people, letting them know that we were unable to assist them, and that they would have to find somebody out of state," the center's operation manager, Kimberly Guzman, tells New Times.

Under the new law, it is a third-degree felony to perform or "actively participate in" an abortion after six weeks gestation. Since gestational age is calculated from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period, the law gives women no more than two weeks to go through the abortion process.

Guzman says that the clinic has been encountering patients who were unaware of the previous 15-week abortion ban that was enacted following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

"So if we are still talking to you about a law that changed two years ago, I can't imagine how this is going to go," she says.

As neighboring states have anti-abortion laws that are as strict or stricter than Florida's new law, some clinics are providing patients with information about options in North Carolina (the nearest state with abortion access after six weeks gestation) and the Northeast. Although North Carolina allows abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, the state mandates a 72-hour waiting period, making it difficult for out-of-state patients who have limited financial resources for lodging.

At Woman's Center of Hollywood, counselors have encouraged patients to go to Connecticut or New York, where there are no waiting periods. Guzman says, however, that many cannot afford to travel — and some abortion clinics jack up their prices knowing people are coming from out of state, desperate for help.

"A lot of the patients are in a financial situation where traveling that far just might not be an option," she adds. "Either it's their jobs that they can't take off, or they need somebody to help watch their children."

Jamarah Amani, midwife and executive director of the Southern Birth Justice Network (SBJN), tells New Times the nonprofit's work will get harder and more demanding with the six-week ban in place. There was already an increased demand for the group's services under the 15-week ban.

The Miami-based organization provides community-based midwifery and doula care, focusing on Black, immigrant, indigenous, LGBTQ, and low-income communities to address disparities in infant and maternal mortality rates.

SBJN trains birthing and abortion doulas, advocates for better health services for women and families, and provides a range of educational programs. Similar to doulas for the birthing process, abortion doulas support people before, during, and after terminating their pregnancy. (The doula does not perform the abortion; rather, they are there to take the patient to the clinic and stay by their side during the procedure.)

"We're going to need to be able to mobilize resources more quickly and get information to people on the prevention side," Amani says. "Prevention is not a solution to this crisis that's being created by this ban. But it is certainly a tool that we have to advocate for comprehensive sex-ed so more people have fertility awareness, to advocate for our rights, and to hold governments accountable because ultimately, we have a right to our health."

The nonprofit's mobile midwife clinic provides maternal healthcare from prenatal checkups to postpartum care. Amani says doulas and midwives will be even more essential in this new "hostile environment" where patients need compassion while navigating the process. Her group also works with mental health professionals, chiropractors, and acupuncturists, with a holistic approach to pregnancy care.

"Because it's midwife- and doula-led and we are centered around reproductive and birth justice, it really is a welcome alternative to people who only have crisis pregnancy centers to turn to," she tells New Times. "That's where we're getting a lot of clients coming in who are interested in having care that is centered around their rights, their autonomy, and respect for who they are."

An abortion-rights initiative is on the ballot in the upcoming November general election. If passed by a 60 percent supermajority, the measure will cement abortion rights into the Florida Constitution, blocking the state from prohibiting abortion before fetal viability, similar to the framework established under Roe v. Wade.

Conservative groups have vowed to rally support against the amendment.

"The abortion amendment which would allow abortion throughout the second and third trimesters, eviscerate health protections for women, and remove parental consent, is far too extreme for Florida," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.

Unless the measure passes, abortion clinics and women's care centers will have to change their healthcare model long-term, with pricing increases and office closures likely under consideration.

Guzman tells New Times medical suppliers' recent product price hikes have compounded challenges her clinic now faces. The clinic has been operating for more than 15 years, and the network to which it belongs has provided gynecological care in Florida for three decades.

Guzman notes that many patients seeking abortions at her clinic have conditions that endanger them or their pregnancy.

"These aren't just patients who are coming in that didn't follow their calendar. There are patients who have conditions that won't let them carry children. They have conditions that can make them sick and have miscarriages," Guzman says.

On May 2, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration clarified through an emergency rule that the treatment of certain life-threatening, pregnancy-related medical conditions, such as ectopic pregnancy and premature membrane ruptures, will not be considered "abortions" under Florida's new regulations.

The agency claimed there is a "deeply dishonest scare campaign and disinformation being perpetuated by the media, the Biden Administration, and advocacy groups to misrepresent the Heartbeat Protection Act."

Democratic Florida State Rep. Anna Eskamani claimed the rule offers some clarity on emergency care for pregnant women but that "healthcare should never be politicized like this."

With the new restrictions making it almost impossible for some women to get an abortion, along with maternity wards closing around the county, Amani fears people will die from untreated obstetric emergencies and maternal mortality rates will only increase. She says more pregnant women will now consider self-managed abortions and seeking abortion medication online and by mail.

"We are in some uncharted territory right now, and the next few months are going to reveal a lot," Amani tells New Times.