According to data from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), abortions in the State of Florida were reduced by 28% in 2024.
While in 2024, 60,755 unborn babies were eliminated, in 2023, abortions reached the terrible figure of 84,052.
This decrease is due in principle to the change that occurred last April in the laws regarding the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in this country, by which the limit of the weeks allowed for abortion was reduced from 15 to 6. In this way, Florida has become one of the most restrictive countries in terms of abortion laws.
It was Governor Ron DeSantis who signed this law, calling abortion “a third-degree crime”.
Last year, 1 in 3 abortions in the southern U.S. — and about 1 in 12 nationwide — occurred in Florida, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. In 2023, about 7,000 abortions occurred per month in Florida, and more than 9,000 people traveled there from other states to obtain abortions throughout the year.
The effect that liberalizing or restrictive legal measures have on certain behaviors is well known. The legalization of euthanasia or permissiveness for abortion causes an increase in their practices, both because of the ease of access to them and because of the “moralizing” effect on the conscience of citizens who can confuse what is legal with what is ethically permissible, circumstances that do not always coincide.
In this case, the opposite phenomenon is observed: an increase in restrictions on the practice of abortions has facilitated the birth of more than 20,000 children in Florida in 2024, compared to those born in 2023.
The exercise of individual freedom must be restricted when its consequences result in harm to third parties (abortion) or to oneself (euthanasia). Respect for human life justifies these restrictions, which make it possible for those babies born thanks to them to also exercise their rights.
