Planned Parenthood prepares for out-of-state patients following Roe v. Wade ruling

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hundreds of people took to the streets in Downtown Jacksonville Friday evening after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade.

Gary Techentien was outraged.

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“Freedom is really no longer legal,” he said at the rally.

Earlier on Friday, Action News Jax spoke with Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates.

“One in four women will have an abortion in their lifetime,” she explained.

Goodhue says clinics in Florida are preparing for more patients from states where abortions are outlawed.

“Now we’re going to have an influx from over state lines,” she said.

A map by the New York Times shows abortion is totally banned in most Southern states, and has gestational limits in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

Florida’s new abortion law will take effect July 1, with 15 weeks being the cutoff. Meanwhile Georgia bans abortion once there’s a fetal heartbeat.

Roe v. Wade overturned: What’s next for Northeast Florida, Southeast Georgia

Action News Jax tried searching for abortions in Alabama, but clinics no longer pop up on abortionfinder.com. We were instead shown clinics in Georgia.

Mia Raven with POWER House in Montgomery, Alabama, says the organization is planning to drive women to Georgia and Florida.

“We will help people in any way we can,” she said. “If you plan to drive someone to say, Illinois where it’s completely legal, is Alabama gonna card someone like me who would drive the person with conspiracy to commit a crime, even though it didn’t happen in Alabama? But it’s technically a crime in Alabama, so that’s where we’re at. We don’t know how far this is gonna go.”

Back here at home, Mary Huston told Action News Jax she had an abortion. She says this ruling reveals the truth about the trauma that abortions have on patients.

She’s dedicated her life to volunteering with the campaign Silent No More, and helping what she says is the millions who’ve kept quiet.

“There are so many suffering in silence. And I hope the message today to all of us — you are not alone anymore in this,” she said.

As for Techentien, he’ll continue fighting.

“A lot of women in my life; some of them have had to resort to abortion, and that’s their right,” he said.

Goodhue says around 70,000 abortions are performed in Florida each year. She says Planned Parenthood makes up about a fifth of the abortion providers in the state.

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