ORLANDO, FL –– Today, State Rep. Anna Eskamani joined patient advocates and local leaders as Free & Just’s “Ride to Decide” national bus tour stopped in Orlando to highlight what’s at stake as extremist lawmakers work to ban abortion nationwide. The Ride to Decide bus tour comes as attacks on reproductive freedom escalate across the country. Support for legal abortion has increased since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, but that hasn’t stopped anti-abortion extremists and conservative lawmakers from continuing to undermine Americans’ access to abortion care, birth control, and IVF treatment.
At the event, local patient storytellers, local leaders, and community members shared how attacks on reproductive freedom harm women and families in Florida and across the country.
“Regardless of what your political alliance is, decisions about one’s pregnancy, whether it is to become a parent and raise a child, or choose adoption, or end that pregnancy – the majority of Americans and the majority of Floridians agree that that decision should remain between that person, their family, their doctor, their faith – not politicians,” said State Representative Anna Eskamani, who represents District 42. “Abortion bans don’t actually stop abortion. They just push people who need care to challenging and unsafe means.”
“When I got pregnant, I panicked. I didn’t know how far along I was, but when I went to my doctor, I was told that I could not at that point in time have an abortion in the state of Florida,” said Keisha Mulfort, a senior communications strategist with the ACLU of Florida, who became pregnant after being told by her doctor that she could not carry a pregnancy and that being pregnant threatened her life. “There was not enough time for my doctors to provide me with adequate information for me to make an informed decision about my own body.” Mulfort urged her fellow Floridians to continue speaking out against abortion bans, and educating their communities about what’s at stake.
“People in my congregation are asking me if I know how to access the life saving health care that they or their loved ones need. I am devastated to have to tell them about this ban and the many, many barriers to access that our Florida politicians have enacted. About the pain, suffering, and loss that this ban is causing. About the devastating message that it sends to my own young children and all young people,” said Rev. Kierstin Homblette Allen, a Unitarian Universalist minister and the affiliated minister at the First Unitarian Church of Orlando. “Abortion bans are against my religion.”
“Over the past few years, I have witnessed our Florida legislators continuously attack our reproductive freedom,” said Farah Al Jallad, an organizer with Florida Student Power, an organization that is building power in Black and Brown communities with young people leading the movement and decision-making process. “Each new bill that restricts abortion access makes it even harder for young people to receive basic health care services. Taking away people’s access to their own bodily autonomy does not prevent abortions – it just makes unsafe ones much more common.”
“Florida is under attack, extremism is rampant here and across the country,” said Sarah Parker, the Executive Director of Voices of Florida, a Black and queer-led organization dedicated to defending human rights and reproductive freedom. “Politicians are not health care providers. Politicians do not know what’s best for my family or yours when it comes to reproductive rights or access to abortion. Politicians should not have a say in whether or not someone receives an abortion.”
“This is not a ‘women’s issue,’ it’s a human issue,” said Beverly Casseus, a member of Florida Rising, an organization dedicated to advancing economic and racial justice across Florida. “We must band together, and we must tell Florida that this is not right and we need to change it.”
The “Ride to Decide” tour is headed to Macon, Georgia next, where local storytellers will spotlight the real-life impacts of abortion bans and attacks on reproductive freedom and share why federal action to protect access to abortion and reproductive health care has never been more important.
Free & Just is committed to fighting for reproductive freedom. Join us in sharing stories, raising voices, and securing our future.
