The Florida Division of Elections has recently confirmed that the group, Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF), has successfully collected the necessary number of signatures to place an amendment on the 2024 ballot. The proposed amendment will enshrine abortion protections into the state constitution.
In reacting to the accomplishment, FPF Campaign Director Lauren Brenzel expressed that the rapid achievement, coming just eight months after the launch of the campaign, illustrates the immense support for reducing political interference in health care decisions and individual privacy. However, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who previously signed a six-week abortion ban into law in 2023, showed dismissive sentiment towards the initiative.
The proposed amendment stipulates, “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
According to the Florida Constitution, in order for a state constitutional amendment to be ratified, it must secure at least 60% of the vote during a ballot initiative.
However, the proposed amendment is facing legal opposition from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody who challenged it before the Florida Supreme Court. Moody is alleging that the proposed measure is “misleading” and “conceals the amendment’s potentially sweeping legal effects.” Several groups, like the National Center for Life and Liberty, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Florida Voters Against Extremism are supporting Moody’s legal challenge.
In response, FPF asserts that the amendment abides by all state requirements and is not vague or misleading. They
pertaincontend that, “The Court withholds a proposed amendment from the voters only when it finds the amendment is clearly and conclusively defective; this amendment does neither. It is ready for a popular vote.”
FPF currently has the backing of numerous former Republican Florida officials, a group of legal professors and educators, and a group of Florida doctors in their case before the Florida Supreme Court. Additionally, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have also filed against Moody’s usage of the organization’s research to argue the word “viability” in the amendment is “misleading.”
Florida is not alone in its legislative debates over abortion rights, particularly following the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. States across the U.S., from California to Arizona, have either recently voted on or have upcoming ballot initiatives pertaining to the issue. Currently, according to the Guttmacher Institute, there are fifteen states with near-total to total abortion bans in place.