FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The U.S. Supreme Court's abortion decision is expected to make Florida an epicenter of the state-by-state fight over the issue in the coming months, raising the stakes for abortion rights advocates in the November election and complicating effortsw by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to manage both his statewide and national political fortunes.

Within hours of the court's decision, access to abortion emerged as a major fault line in America's divisive cultural battles. Thirteen conservative states with "trigger bans" will outlaw abortion within 30 days - and the procedure could soon be prohibited in several others. Lawmakers in heavily Democratic northern and western states are promising to become safe havens for women who want an abortion but are banned from receiving one at home.

But in Florida, where residents in a half-dozen relatively liberal urban counties are continually locked in political duels with the conservatives who dominate much of the rest of the state, the debate over abortion rights is just getting started. It's a matter that will potentially have far-reaching consequences for millions of women in the South. The Sunshine State's new ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy could emerge as one of the more flexible in the region after trigger laws and other unenforced abortion laws now before the courts are likely go into effect.