Shifting abortion laws cause confusion for patients, clinics

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Abortion providers and patients are struggling to navigate the evolving legal landscape around abortion laws and access across the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week.

In Florida, a law banning abortions after 15 weeks went into effect Friday, the day after a judge called it a violation of the state constitution and said he would sign an order temporarily blocking the law next week. The ban could have broader implications in the South, where the state has wider access to the procedure than its neighbors.

Abortion rights have been lost and regained in the span of a few days in Kentucky. A so-called trigger law imposing a near-total ban on the procedure took effect upon the Supreme Court’s ruling, but a judge blocked the law Thursday, meaning the state’s only two abortion providers can resume seeing patients — for now.

In Texas, abortions up to six weeks resumed at some clinics after a Houston judge said patients still had that right, at least until a new ban on virtually all abortions takes effect in the coming weeks. But the state has asked the Texas Supreme Court to block that order and allow prosecutors to enforce a ban on abortion now, adding to the uncertainty.

The legal wrangling is almost certain to continue to cause chaos for Americans seeking abortions in the near future, with court rulings able to upend access at a moment's notice and an influx of new patients from out of state overwhelming providers.

Some of the cases involve trigger laws specifically designed to restrict abortion if Roe were to fall, while other laws had been on hold pending the Supreme Court's ruling and are now being applied. Many of the legal challenges to abortion restrictions argue their state's constitution guarantees access...