Florida’s six-week abortion ban has come into force, closing the door - for now - on the last abortion access point in the US South.

Anti-abortion campaigners have celebrated the new legislation - which replaces an existing 15-week law - as the gold standard of abortion policy and a major victory in the country’s battle over abortion access.

But pro-choice campaigners say the ban will push an overstretched system to the brink.

They worry the new law in Florida, which had been the last state in the region without a near-total ban, will effectively cut off abortion access for more than 21 million women of reproductive age across nearly a dozen states.

“This essentially creates an abortion desert in the south-east part of our country,” said Michelle Quesada, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida. “This will be devastating.”