The Florida Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next week on the state’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — the outcome of which will affect a law passed this year barring abortions at six weeks of pregnancy.
Across the state, pro-choice activists have been working to collect petition signatures for a constitutional amendment that would put abortion rights on the 2024 ballot.
Locally, the Pensacola Abortion Rights Taskforce (PART) was formed in the aftermath of the leak of the Dobbs draft opinion, which questioned the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade. Last summer, the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 law.
“After the Dobbs decision leaked out I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I have got to do something,’” said Robin Blyn, one of the founders of PART. “I've been too quiet on this front for too long. And I was able to get in touch with other people. So we're going to celebrate our one-year anniversary in September when we had our first meeting.”
With only a few hundred dollars raised, PART is currently focused on education, whether it’s explaining the current state laws or connecting someone to resources they need. For instance, the Florida Access Network funds abortion procedures or medications, transportation, and travel accommodations for those in need. Since American Family Planning in Pensacola closed this year, the closest clinic that provides abortions in Florida is located in Tallahassee.
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“I want to reiterate, because there's so much confusion right now about abortion in the state of Florida, that you still can get an abortion legally,” said Blyn. “In the state of Florida, up to 15 weeks. The six-week ban has passed, but it will not go into effect until after the lawsuit against the 15-week abortion ban has been settled. So, if the 15-week abortion ban is considered unconstitutional, then the six-week ban would be unconstitutional, too.”
Blyn, and other abortion rights activists, expect courts to approve the 15-week ban, which is why there is a statewide effort to put the constitutionality of abortion on the 2024 ballot. Floridians Protecting Freedom, the committee working on the ballot initiative, has collected more than 600,000 petitions and raised over $6.75 million.
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“And that amendment is polling extremely well — 70% (in favor),” said Blyn. “That's high. So that tells you that abortion is no longer a partisan issue, that it is no longer the divisive issue in this country that it used to be.”
Even in Northwest Florida — a decidedly conservative area — Blyn said that she and other PART volunteers have received positive support while out at protests or collecting petition signatures.
“Out there on the protest, we got a lot more honks and support, and people waving and giving us thumbs up and yelling support outside of their (car) windows than we got opposition, which was very surprising to me,” said Jasmine Brown, another member of PART.
Brown, who is 25, said she never considered the need to fight for abortion rights.
“I just thought that that was something I would ever have to worry about,” she said.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, that changed.
“Just finding out more about how vulnerable communities and people who are less fortunate, how worse the abortion struggle impacts them, is kind of what really piqued up my interest in fighting for regaining and retaining our access,” she said.
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Since Roe was overturned Brown said she’s concerned what it could mean not just for reproductive rights, but access to medical care such as gender-affirming care.
“It really violates our freedoms to even prevent us from having any choice or any say or access to procedures or the medical care that we need,” she said. “So that's really a main thing — the violation of personal freedoms and that we have to fight back for. Because fighting for abortion rights is not just fighting for abortion rights, it's fighting for your community members. It's fighting for people having access to medical care.”
Blyn, on the other hand, who is of a different generation, remembers escorting patients at abortion clinics in the 1980s as a college student in Philadelphia.
“It was a turning point in my own development as a feminist escorting a 13-year-old who'd been raped and the kind of abuse being directed at this kid,” she said.
The three mandates of PART are securing the right to abortion, securing safe and affordable access to abortion, and changing the culture. The latter of the three may be the most important, said Blyn.
“It's significant to achieving the other two goals, to change the culture,” she explained. “We've had events — showing of films and these speak-outs and things around town to make the word abortion neutral — to take away the stigma, to be able to say it without the shame. I think the challenge most people have when they decide to have an abortion is not the abortion. The challenge is what are other people going to think of me? Right? And, we don't want people to have to do that.”
One way PART reaches out to the community is through their reproductive health bags or “repro bags” as they call them.
“In those bags, we have, pregnancy tests, we have Plan B, which is hard to find. We have condoms of various types and assortments and resource material in those bags,” explained Blyn.
The cost for each bag is about $15. Right now, PART is looking for volunteers and donations to keep going. They’re encouraged by work done so far across the state, and the response they’ve had locally.
“If you support the petition, you should also register to vote because your petition will not count if you're not registered to vote,” said Blyn. “But that's what we need. And we need people who are in trouble to contact us. I don't want to see the suicide rate go up. I don't want to see domestic violence go up. I don't want to see entrenched poverty rates go up as we enter that crisis period of the six-week ban. Please reach out for help. But I believe in this community, I am increasingly inspired by the sheer numbers of people that support this initiative. And I think we're going to win this one. And when we do, the clinics will open.”
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