U.S. Focus: Abortion in Florida

Four Magnum photographers have teamed up with two reporters from the Swiss newspaper Le Temps to document key issues in the United States ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in November.

Alongside Simon Petite and Léo Tichelli, photographers Eli Reed, Larry Towell, Cristina de Middel and Peter van Agtmael explore themes of economy, democracy, abortion, foreign policy, and immigration in several key states. The collaboration will also explore images from the Magnum archive in special publications in October and November.

For the third report in the series, Cristina de Middel traveled to Florida with journalist Simon Petite in September 2024 to document the ongoing challenges and local perceptions of abortion in the state, where since May 2024, women who are more than six weeks pregnant are no longer legally allowed to have an abortion.

“The reality of abortion, even if you haven’t experienced it yourself, is always very near,” writes De Middel. “The struggle for women to get protection and good conditions for their decision is worldwide.”

Cristina de Middel visited the Woman’s World Medical Center in Fort Piece, the last abortion center in this part of the United States, where confrontations between pro-life and pro-choice groups are routine. “They make it difficult for women,” says the photographer, referring to pro-life groups who stand outside the clinic and try to dissuade women from having an abortion. 

On a more personal level, it is the first time since 2018 that De Middel has taken part in a media assignment. “It allowed me to reconnect to the roots of my motivations to become a photojournalist,” she says. 

De Middel and Petite learned about the town’s history from the 2010 documentary 12th & Delaware, which showed the blatant tactics of pro-abortion activists who set up a fake clinic in front of the real one to mislead women seeking abortions.

Fourteen years later, the story was still there. “We never imagined that something like this would live on,” says the photographer, “we were totally shocked that such a crazy situation was still happening and even getting worse because of the stricter regulations on abortion in Florida,” she adds.

In the state, a coalition of pro-choice activists have nonetheless collected enough signatures to restore the right to abortion up to 24 weeks by referendum. Amendment 4, or the Florida Right to Abortion initiative, will now be on the ballot on November 5 during the presidential election.

One visible change in Fort Pierce is the presence of volunteer escorts at the front of the clinic to help women visiting the clinic avoid being accosted by pro-life protesters. Before, the woman would park and a crowd of people would shout at them, brandishing a plastic model of a fetus in front of them for the 50 meters from the car to the clinic, the photographer explains.

Although Petite and De Middel went to the fake pro-choice clinic every day, the community did not accept to talk to them, while the photographer emphasized the willingness and humanity of other pro-lifers.

While reporting, Petite and De Middel met a priest, Father Peter T. Truong, at St Francis of Assisi Church, where he explained the Catholic Church’s stance against abortion, using pro-life propaganda with false data and unstable rhetoric. As a migrant from Vietnam, he explained to the photographer how he suffered when he first arrived in the U.S.

When De Middel asked him about Trump’s position on women in the context of Christian values, the priest showed that it was “the lesser of two evils,” a contradiction common in the region.

On a trip to Palm Beach, the duo then met Odilio Garrido, a Cuban immigrant who fully supports the Republican candidate because of his pro-life stance. “It is a question of priorities. These people would rather vote for someone who protects life, even if they are against immigration,” adds De Middel.

During her time in Florida, the Magnum president attended the Democratic debate between Harris and Trump on September 10. It was the first time in her career that she had attended a campaign event in the U.S.

“Both sides are made up of similar people, but they are wearing different clothes. It is our political dimension that divides us, but in the end, we are all human,” says De Middel on the experience of spending time with both groups. “I wish journalism could really convey all their layers.”

Read the full article, in French, via Le Temps.