Reproductive health care in the Southeast hinges on Florida abortion-rights measure, doctors say

Dr. Cherise Felix says a recent patient yelled and swore at her before eventually hugging her, grateful she would no longer have to carry the planned-for baby that had died inside her.

Felix provides abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics in Florida, which on May 1 banned abortion at six weeks’ gestation. She was able to see this patient, who was about 17 weeks pregnant, because of the abortion law’s limited health exceptions. But before coming to the clinic, the miscarrying patient was turned away by another OB-GYN, something Felix said happens regularly since the ban.