On Wednesday, the Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against letting state voters decide whether they want access to abortion rather than having lawmakers impose restrictions.

New data obtained by the Sun Sentinel shows a portrait of abortion in Florida, offering a clearer picture of who may be affected by the outcome of the court’s decision.

Last year, 84,058 abortions were performed in Florida, according to 2023 provisional data reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number reflects 5,800 more abortions than Florida reported on its own state website. It also represents an increase of 1,477 abortions from 2022, according to the CDC data.

Most abortions are for women in their 20s

In a trend solidified over the last five years, teenagers in Florida are having fewer abortions and now make up the smallest group of abortion patients. This shift mirrors a national trend, and researchers have found a variety of factors has led to fewer unintended pregnancies in teens  — including better contraceptive use and less sex among the younger age group.

In Florida, women in their 20s are the typical abortion patients, making up about 55% percent of all abortions in the state. In 2023, just 7% of abortion patients were under 20, and slightly more than a third were over 30.

Florida’s 20-somethings are having abortions early in their pregnancies, usually before six weeks. The most often-used method of abortion in 2023 was medication.

In line with a national trend, medication accounted for more abortions in Florida than surgical procedures. In 2023, 46,641 women turned to medication to end a pregnancy compared to 34,666 women who opted for a surgical procedure. That’s a shift from pre-pandemic trends in 2019 in Florida when more abortions occured using surgical methods.

In Florida, the abortion pill can be prescribed by a doctor for women who are pregnant up to 10 weeks. The same requirements for counseling, an ultrasound, and 24-hour wait period apply to all medical abortions as for surgery options.

A shift in when abortions are taking place

Much of the political debate about abortion in Florida over the last two years has focused on abortions performed late in pregnancy.

In Florida, a shift has occurred.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Florida passed a 15-week ban on abortion that became effective in July 2022. The 2023 data is the first full year with the restriction in effect, with no exceptions for rape or incest. In addition, a 24-hour waiting period between a doctor’s visit and an abortion went into effect in Florida in 2022.

The CDC data shows the effect of those changes. A look at abortions over the last five years shows more abortions in Florida occuring after six weeks of pregnancy. In 2023, 40% of abortions occurred in the first six weeks of pregnancy, but the majority took place after that time period. Five years earlier in 2019, 73% of abortions took place in the first six weeks of pregnancy.

As the abortion debate has heated, some groups have argued that abortion is something Floridians turn to as a form of birth control.

The 2023 data does not bear that out. In fact, six in 10 women who had an abortion in Florida last year had one for the first time. Another quarter had only one previous abortion. Less than 17% had had two or more.

“It’s simply not the case that abortion is something large numbers of people turn to as a form of birth control,” said Caitlin Knowles Myers, an economist at Middlebury who studies reproductive health, previously told The New York Times.

Most Floridians who have abortions are single

When it comes to marital status, nearly three-quarters of Floridians who had abortions in 2023 are single, and only 10% are married.

While the reasons behind an abortion are varied and personal, in Florida last year, most of the women who had abortions already are mothers. More than half already have two or more children. Income information was not included in data publicly available.

More abortion patients are traveling to Florida

Florida’s data also reflect more abortion patients in Florida do not actually live in the state.

In 2023, more than 7,700 women traveled to Florida from another state or country to end their pregnancies.

The women came from hundreds of miles, originating from mostly from Georgia, Alabama and Louisana. Florida was the closest place they could legally get an abortion, given that the majority of the states in the South banned or restricted the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2022 that abortion laws should be left up to the states.

“After the fall of Roe, our health centers witnessed a tidal wave of patients from out-of-state seeking care in Florida after their states had banned or restricted abortion,” said Clara Trullenque with Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida.   “Our out-of-state patient volume quadrupled. Today, with bans continuing to eliminate access, we are still seeing triple the out-of-state patient volume since before Roe was overturned.”

An analysis from the Guttmacher Institute finds that Florida has seen one of the nation’s most significant increases in abortions post-Roe, becoming the state that sees and helps patients from all over the southern part of the country.

According to the CDC data, the number of out-of-state women getting the procedure in Florida increased by about 1,000 last year from 2022.

Whether that trend continues may hinge on the outcome of two different legal actions pending before the Florida Supreme Court.

One is a challenge to the 15-week abortion ban.

After the reversal of Roe v Wade in June 2022 gave authority back to individual states to decide abortion limits, Florida lawmakers approved a 15-week ban that was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis effective July 2022. Previously, women in the state could get abortions up until the 24th week of pregnancy. Then, last year, Florida lawmakers approved a six-week ban. That new six-week restriction would take effect if the Florida Supreme Court upholds the 15-week ban, which is being challenged.

In a second challenge, on Wednesday, the Florida Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether the wording on a proposed constitutional amendment is clear enough to be presented to Florida voters in November 2024.

The outcome will determine whether voters, or lawmakers, get to decide limits on abortion in Florida.

Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at .