The number of patients receiving abortions in Florida each year continues to rise.
There were 84,052 abortions performed in Florida last year, according to an update to 2023 totals that the Agency for Health Care Administration published on Jan. 31. That’s up from 82,192 in 2022.
The increase in abortion totals was once again driven by patients who don't live in Florida but traveled to the state for the procedure.
The state reports 7,736 out-of-state residents got abortions in Florida last year, a 15% increase the year before. There was an even larger spike in 2022, when out-of-state totals were up 38% from the previous year.
Most states surrounding Florida have strict abortion bans in place. Some restrict access after six weeks of pregnancy, others after conception with limited exceptions.
The Florida Supreme Court is preparing to rule on a legal challenge to the state's 15-week abortion ban.
If that ban is upheld, a six-week ban that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law last year will go into effect 30 days later.
The court is also weighing whether to keep a proposed constitutional amendment that would protect abortion rights off the Florida ballot. The state has asked justices to block the measure.
The group behind the proposal gathered nearly one million voter signatures, well more than the 891,523 needed to make the ballot.
Here’s how many patients from the Tampa Bay area had abortions last year, according to the AHCA report:
- Hillsborough: 7,084
- Pinellas: 3,292
- Polk: 2,344
- Pasco: 1,250
- Manatee: 882
- Sarasota: 857
- Hernando: 376
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