(LifeSiteNews) — Florida reported about 17,000 fewer abortions this year than during a similar time period last year while the slaughtering of many thousands of preborn babies continues.

As of October 1, the state Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) reported 33,339 abortions performed as compared with 50,224 during the same period in 2024. This means 16,885 fewer abortions overseen by physicians in the state have been committed so far in 2025.

The data does not account for Floridians who may have traveled out of state for an abortion or for those who have illegally obtained abortion pills by mail. Thus, as the Foundation to Abolish Abortion noted, the decrease is “likely overstated by the omission of key abortion data.”

Even the reported abortions indicate a continued high number of killings of preborn children. 

“Florida has killed over 33,339 babies so far this year. Pro Life Regulation is still murder. Please help us,” Abolish Abortion Florida wrote on X.

However, restrictive abortion laws and a sharp drop in reported abortions suggest the number of babies killed by mothers in the state may still have significantly decreased even when out-of-state abortions and medication abortions are taken into account. According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, Florida’s reported number of abortions fell from 85,770 in 2023 to 73,710 by 2024. 

The News Service of Florida published the AHCA abortion numbers this year for Florida by the resident county of the mother, showing Miami-Dade County and Broward County lead the state in the number of resident abortions.

The drop in abortions follows the passage of Florida’s heartbeat law that took effect in April 2024 thanks to a Florida Supreme Court ruling that the Florida Constitution contains no “right” to abortion.

The higher numbers of abortions last year were driven in part by residents of nearby southern states that enacted near-total bans on abortion. Earlier this year, the AHCA reported that the “number of non-Florida residents seeking abortions in the state of Florida fell dramatically from 2,928 to 744.”

The abortion lobby has attempted to invalidate Florida’s pro-life laws with a ballot initiative that would add a “right” to abortion to the constitution, but it failed last November, ending a winning streak such amendments had enjoyed in the rest of the country.