“But what can we do?”
As a long-time reproductive rights advocate, this issue has been a central theme of my career.
On April 1, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of the 15-week abortion ban and allowed the pending six-week abortion ban to go into effect on May 1. And no, this wasn't an April Fool's joke. The decision overturned 40 years of legal precedent against abortion in Florida and watered down long-standing constitutional privacy protections. This extreme ban makes abortion illegal before many people even know they are pregnant, depriving millions of Floridians and people in surrounding states of their reproductive freedom and intensifying a public health crisis. .
As you know, abortion bans do not eliminate abortions. Instead, it puts pregnant women at serious risk and criminalizes doctors, preventing them from providing quality care. You don't have to look too far to see what the future holds for Florida. A recent report, “Criminalized Medicine: How Louisiana's Abortion Ban Puts Patients and Clinicians at Risk,” found delays in pregnancy care, denial of miscarriage treatment, and leaving women with major abdominal surgeries. It provided alarming examples of how pregnancy care was turned upside down, including forcing one woman to undergo a severe caesarean section. – Rather than a simple abortion procedure. These egregious treatments dramatically increase risks and threaten physicians' ability to provide a high-quality standard of care. The threat of felonies, license suspensions, and penalties drives obstetricians and gynecologists out of ban states, hindering reproductive health and reducing the quality of care throughout the health care system.
More information on reproductive rights:Tamayo: It's time for Florida voters to take back abortion rights | Opinion
“But what can we do?”
Start by sharing information about abortion options and resources with your friends and family. Some of the resources include Charley, a private and secure online chatbot. Charley was built in the post-Roe era to meet critical reproductive health needs and provide personalized, accurate, up-to-date information about abortion options, including the availability of mail-in abortion pills. procedure, or care in another condition).
Since Roe was overturned, online searches for information about abortion have skyrocketed. People seeking abortions are desperately searching for answers to the pressing question: “How do abortion pills work?” Where can I get an abortion? What is legal where I live? How much does it cost? Between the ever-changing legal landscape, including new abortion bans and restrictions, legitimate fears about digital surveillance, and rampant disinformation, trying to find even the most basic information can be overwhelming. After six months of field research and interviews with experts, we created the Post-Roe Rapid Response Tool with co-hosts his INeedAnA.com, Plan C, and the Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline.
Lilian Tamayo Other works:Lillian Tamayo: Abortion ruling forces us to vote for freedom
Charlie's team of experts (co-founded by Planned Parenthood's former president, Cecile Richards, and chief strategy officer, Tom Subak, and of whom I am a member of the leadership team) is a leading expert on online abortion pills. has observed a 41% increase in searches, with 68% of users seeking information on accessing abortion pills since its launch last fall.
Charlie provides users (who remain completely anonymous) with expert advice to combat misinformation. The bot has reached his 20,000 user count since its launch in September. And the state with the most Charlie users is Texas, followed by Florida.
No matter what ban is in effect in your state, mail-in support, resources, and medications will continue to be available to you. Charlie is here to provide information about your options.
“But what else can we do?”
Florida still has options for abortion care. Learn about and donate to local abortion funds to support important work as Florida's ban takes effect (you can find local funds through the National Abortion Fund Network).
And please register to vote. This November, thanks to the great leadership of the Vote Yes On 4 campaign, a constitutional amendment to limit government intervention will be on the ballot. Floridians have the opportunity to vote in favor of restoring access to health care and putting health care decisions back in the hands of people, not politicians.
Lillian Tamayo, a member of the Palm Beach Post Editorial Advisory Board, previously served as president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast North Florida.
