Florida's 6-week abortion ban takes effect: Here's how residents, clinics are already feeling the impact

Inside a one-story clinic about 40 miles from the Georgia border, Kelly Flynn’s staff has provided abortions to women from across the Southeast since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

But on Tuesday, A Woman’s Choice clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, was seeing its last patients who fell outside of Florida’s strict new abortion law taking effect on Wednesday. The legislation prohibits most abortion after about six weeks – before many people know they’re pregnant. 

Some arrived from Mississippi and Louisiana. One client was a college student who had learned last week that she was pregnant, said Flynn, fueling a quick decision as she and others scrambled to get care ahead of the new law. 

"‘You know, I'm a college student. I'm not ready for this,’” Flynn recounted the student telling her.