(Oregon Right to Life) — Abortion rates dropped precipitously in Florida last year thanks to a newly enacted “heartbeat” law, new data shows.
According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute’s annual abortion report released earlier this month, abortion rates dropped in numerous states that had passed laws protecting the unborn. The state with the sharpest decrease in abortion numbers in 2024 was Florida, whose “heartbeat” law prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected – about six weeks gestation – took effect in May.
According to the report, Florida saw “12,100 fewer abortions” in 2024 than in the previous year. Florida’s law took effect in May of last year, before which clinicians performed approximately 45,000 abortions in the state. After the law took effect, only about 29,000 more abortions were performed throughout the duration of the year.
While Florida’s new numbers have been taken as a sign of hope for pro-life advocates, it’s unclear how many women ultimately chose life for their babies rather than traveling to another state for abortion. For example, the report indicated a 16% spike in abortions in Virginia in 2024 as neighboring states passed laws protecting the unborn, Axios pointed out. Virginia allows legal abortion through 26 weeks gestation.
Overall, the Guttmacher Institute reported that the number of abortions nationwide (roughly one million) changed very little from 2023 – though National Right to Life Director of Education and Research Randall K. O’Bannon, Ph.D. suggested the numbers may not be fully accurate.
“This isn’t the old Guttmacher report that surveys every clinic and tracks down every abortionist,” O’Bannon said in a statement. “Guttmacher is still relying a bit too heavily on abortionists who were some of their most reliable sources before Dobbs and giving too much credit to abortion pill sales by ‘virtual’ and online pill promoters,”
“Other studies do show that lives are being saved in states with pro-life protections, regardless of what Guttmacher is reporting,” he said.
RELATED: Guttmacher Institute Estimates Over 1 Million Abortions in 2024 in Annual Nationwide Abortion Report
Meanwhile, as the data indicates, Florida’s position as a state with a strong pro-life legal landscape is a recent development.
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Florida had actually become a destination for abortion tourismasthe passage of laws limiting or otherwise banning abortion in neighboring conservative states created a market for Florida abortion providers to facilitate women traveling from other states for abortion.
The problem persisted as the state’s pro-life laws stalled in the courts. In April 2024, however, Florida’s Supreme Court finally resolved the issue in favor of the pro-life legislation. The 15 week limit and the later heartbeat law were allowed to take effect.
Today, the Sunshine State, which saw a substantial political shift to the right during the COVID-19 pandemic, has remained on a pro-life trajectory.
In the November 2024 General Election, Florida became the first state in the country to see the defeat of a pro-abortion ballot initiative that would have effectively legalized abortion up to the moment of birth. Florida was joined by South Dakota and Nebraska whose voters rejected similar ballot measures.
READ: Florida Voters Reject Pro-Abortion Amendment to Enshrine Abortion Until Birth
Though it does not yet have a law like Idaho or Texas prohibiting nearly all abortions from the moment of conception, Florida is now among the states with the most protections for unborn lives.
In contrast, Oregon remains one of the most dangerous states in the nation for the unborn, allowing abortion up to the moment of birth for any reason. Only eight other states and the District of Columbia share Oregon’s legal stance on abortion, one that is misaligned with the perspectives of most Americans.
A nationwide Knights of Columbus-Marist poll released in January found that 72% of the 1,387 adults polled, across political divides, believe abortion should be restricted at six months of pregnancy or earlier, and 60% think it should only be legal in the first three months.
When given a binary choice, 67% rejected a position that would put no limits at all on abortion.
Oregon Right to Life believes in the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Abortion ends the life of a genetically distinct, growing human being. We oppose abortion at any point of gestation. In rare cases, a mother may have a life threatening condition in which medical procedures intended to treat the condition of the mother may result in the unintended death of her preborn baby. At the same time, ORTL recognizes that modern medical practice has and will continue to increase the ability to save both the life of the mother and the baby. To read this and all our position statements, click here.
