Florida’s 6-week abortion ban goes into effect May 1

Florida’s six-week abortion ban officially went into effect Wednesday, one month after the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the measure, turning the Southeastern region essentially into a desert of abortion access. Prior to the ban going into effect, abortions had been permitted up to 15 weeks into a pregnancy in Florida. Even with the limit, the state had become an island surrounded by states with much harsher, near-total abortion bans.