The first two assertions are correct. The third runs up against the plain text of Florida law and puts the provider and the patient at risk of felony penalties.
Nevertheless, an abortion pill advocacy group is spreading the messages via floating digital boat advertisements across some of the Tampa Bay area’s most prominent beaches this month—even though Florida abortion laws ban abortion pills from being sent in the mail. Abortion medication in Florida must be ordered by a physician and dispensed in person at a clinic or doctor’s office.
Mayday.Health’s abortion pill boat tour is cruising along two coastal routes in St. Pete Beach and Clearwater Beach throughout August with a simple message: “MIFEPRISTONE AND MISOPROSTOL”—the two FDA-approved medications used in medication abortion.
“In a state like Florida, where abortion access has been significantly restricted, many people still don’t know these options exist,” said Tamara Stein, deputy director of Mayday.Health, a health-education nonprofit. “Our campaign is designed to spark curiosity, prompt people to search for information, and ultimately empower them to make informed decisions. It’s bold, it’s visible, and it cuts through the noise.”
Whether it’s through floating advertisements on Florida beaches or through other routes, the message is being received.
A study conducted by #WeCount, a Society of Family Planning project, shows that 13,380 abortions in Florida were provided to pregnant patients under shield laws in 2024. These are legal protections put in place by some states to reduce legal risk for clinicians who offer abortion to states where abortion is prohibited or severely restricted.
#We Count says its data include clinician-provided abortions, defined in this report as medication or procedural abortions completed by a licensed clinician within the United States in a clinic, private medical office, hospital, or virtual-only clinic.
Bree Wallace is director for case management with the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund. She says self-managed abortions with pills are becoming more popular because of websites like Mayday.Health, as well as PlanCPills.org and Aid Access.
“Many Floridians and people in other states with abortion bans use websites like Mayday or other trusted resources to find information about accessing pills on their own,” Wallace said.
One such group is the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, or The MAP. In a story published by WBUR in Boston in April, the group expected to mail 2,500 packages of abortion pills in that month alone, “with just over half going to Texas, Georgia and Florida.”
But Wallace stresses: “It’s important that individuals assess their legal risks and utilize trusted helplines to learn more about potential legal risks that can come with that — but it’s very medically safe.”
Those legal risks include breaking Florida law and facing criminal sanctions. Only a physician can perform an abortion here and they cannot use telehealth for medicinal abortions. “Any medications intended for use in a medical abortion must be dispensed in person by a physician and may not be dispensed through the United States Postal Service or by any other courier or shipping service,” state statute reads.
Any person who willfully performs, or actively participates in, a termination of pregnancy commits a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Tallahassee attorney Julie Gallagher said that means the physician and the patient are breaking the law if they either order or receive the pills in the mail.
“I would say the pills are safe, but it’s not legal to get them through the mail in Florida. You have to go to a clinic and you have to get the doctor to dispense directly to you,” said Gallagher, an abortion-rights advocate who defended an abortion doctor when the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis tried to revoke her license.
When asked whether patients should be wary of physicians willing to violate the law, she replied: “Do you want to go to a physician who is willing to violate the law? And possibly put you in a situation where you’re violating the law? I wouldn’t.”
Florida’s abortion landscape
Abortions in Florida are legal but only through six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even discover they are pregnant. There are exceptions for rape, incest, or human trafficking when the fetus is not more than 15 weeks old.
Abortions also are legal in Florida through the end of the second trimester to save the pregnant patient’s life or to avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment, and when there’s a fatal fetal abnormality. Two physicians must certify that the termination meets the statutory criteria unless it’s an emergency situation, which requires certification from one doctor.
In addition to a six-week ban, before having an abortion a patient must undergo a sonogram and wait 24 hours. Minors must receive permission from a parent. And only physicians can perform abortions.
“We wanted to give people clear, trustworthy, and accessible information about how they could still make their own decisions about their own bodies — even in states with abortion bans.”
Options
Abortion rights advocates in Florida argue women need to be aware of what state law says but still need options.
“Florida bans abortion before many people realize they’re pregnant. And not everyone can afford to travel, take off work, or coordinate childcare in order to leave the state for abortion care,” said Cheyenne Drews, reproductive freedom program director with Progress Florida.
“Research shows that with the right information and support, having an abortion at home is overwhelmingly safe, and organizations like Repro Legal Helpline are helping people understand their specific legal risks,” she said.
Mayday.Health was founded in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The organization does not itself ship pills needed for a medical abortion, but does provide information to patients and links to providers that do.
“We wanted to give people clear, trustworthy, and accessible information about how they could still make their own decisions about their own bodies — even in states with abortion bans,” Stein said.
“The moment demanded action, and we knew we had a responsibility to meet it with facts, not fear,” she said. “We understand that fear is real, especially in a state like Florida where the laws are complex and changing. But people deserve access to information. We believe everyone has the right to make informed decisions about their own bodies — safely, privately, and on their own terms.”
Telehealth abortions increasing
The FDA first approved mifepristone to terminate pregnancies in 2000, initially through seven weeks of pregnancy. The drug blocks progesterone, a hormone necessary to maintain a pregnancy. Another drug, misoprostol, causes uterine contractions and sometimes in applied in miscarriages.
In 2016, the FDA extended the approval of mifepristone to 10 weeks. In May, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he had directed the Food and Drug Administration to review its regulations for mifepristone.
The practice of consulting with patients remotely and prescribing them medication via the mail has grown in recent years, with 25% of abortions delivered through telehealth as of the end of 2024, the #WeCount study shows.
More than 14% of the 92,040 abortions performed in Florida in 2024 were provided via telehealth, the report indicates, notwithstanding the law. The group reports that shield laws continue to facilitate abortion access, especially in the 12 states where abortion is banned in the United States.
Challenging the protections
Maggie Carpenter, a physician who practices abortion care via telemedicine, was the first to be criminally charged for prescribing over state lines, and is being protected by New York’s shield law against a lawsuit from Texas’ attorney general and criminal prosecution from Louisiana.
In July, a Texas man sued a California doctor in federal court for allegedly sending abortion pills to his partner. Jonathan Mitchell, former Texas solicitor general, filed the lawsuit July 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Texas, Galveston Division, on behalf of Jerry Rodriguez.
Florida only requires a physician to register as a telehealth provider, which means that the Florida Board of Medicine cannot rescind the license of a telehealth provider who violates the state’s abortion law.
Overall, medication abortions accounted for more than 60% of all abortions in the formal health care system in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The organization says that refers to data on procedural and medication abortions provided at brick-and-mortar health facilities (such as clinics or doctor’s offices), as well as medication abortions provided via telehealth and virtual providers in the United States.
Abortions are counted as having been provided in the state in which a patient had a procedure or where pills were dispensed. It does not include medication abortions provided under the protection of shield laws to a patient in a state where abortion is completely banned.
Senior Reporter Christine Sexton contributed to this story.
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This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2025.