TALLAHASSEE, Florida (LifeSiteNews) — As a law banning most abortions upon detection of a fetal heartbeat finally takes effect in Florida, abortion friends and foes alike are closely watching the Sunshine State to see if it breaks the trend of even non-liberal states enshrining abortion “rights” in state constitutions.
Backed by a coalition of left-wing and pro-abortion groups called Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF), a state constitutional amendment will appear on Florida’s November ballots stating that “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”; with an exception for a provision of the Florida Constitution that permits parental notification for minors’ abortions (though opponents warn that it will have the effect of overriding that provision).
Early last month, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that, contrary to the state’s objections, the amendment’s language was sufficiently clear to be put before voters. “The people of Florida aren’t stupid,” Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz said during oral arguments. “They can figure it out.” (The court simultaneously ruled that Florida’s 15-week and six-week abortion bans could take effect.)
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has spoken out against the “very, very extreme” amendment on multiple occasions over the past month, blasting it as deceptive while ultimately predicting that it’s “going to fail” once voters recognize its radicalism.
DeSantis: pro-abortion amendment worded in a way that is "intentionally misleading."@GovRonDeSantis speaks out against the Florida abortion amendment that "uses deceptive language to get people to vote for something they don't actually believe in." #flpol pic.twitter.com/PyfRF1g8Xg
— SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) May 1, 2024
Thank you, @GovRonDeSantis, for exposing how vague the abortion amendment is. Florida is NOT California. pic.twitter.com/ahCbBi43yx
— SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) April 4, 2024
'EXACTLY – YOU MADE THE POINT!': DeSantis battles with reporter, who accidentally shows how "deceptive" Florida's abortion ballot initiative is
REPORTER: "This amendment does not require the change of parental notification [of abortion]-"
DESANTIS: "That's not consent -… pic.twitter.com/MokAqSo9A4
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) April 17, 2024
“There’s a difference between consent and notification,” DeSantis said during an exchange with a reporter about the amendment’s implications for parental involvement laws. “Notification is after the fact. The consent is obviously a condition precedent. They did that because they know going after parents’ rights is a vulnerability.”
“They tested this with millions of dollars to try to get people,” he added. “Don’t be fooled, though – that is severing the parental consent for minors (…) It’s written so broadly, to just take out the notification, which is different than consent.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the abortion lobby has found great success with initiatives to codify state-level rights to abortion. Pro-lifers have failed to either enact pro-life amendments or stop pro-abortion ones in California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont, and Ohio, prompting much conversation among pro-lifers about the need to develop new strategies to protect life at the ballot box. This year, there are a total of three abortion-related ballot initiatives confirmed for the November elections, with as many as 12 more that could make the ballots as well.
Florida may prove to be the ultimate test case for whether pro-abortion fears really are as potent a turnout-driver as left-wing voices insist, or if Republican success in other areas can help the pro-life cause overcome pro-abortion fear-mongering.
Constitutional amendments require 60 percent of the vote in Florida (as opposed to the simple-majority threshold in Michigan and Ohio), and polls have disagreed as to whether the amendment can reach it. Additionally, Republican voter registration recently surpassed Democrats by more than 900,000, an unprecedented advantage expected to further impact turnout in November.
“I was recently in Florida talking with donors about the implications of the ballot measure and Big Abortion’s attack on the states,” wrotes Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser, who noted that “until now, (the abortion lobby) haven’t had to contend with Ron DeSantis,” who “understands how to win on abortion.”
“President Biden rolled out a ‘seven-figure’ ad campaign and an abortion tour with his latest stop in Florida this week,” Dannenfelser noted. “Hillary Clinton weighed in, as did DeSantis’ nemesis in California, Governor Gavin Newsom. But as DeSantis says, Florida isn’t California. In their overconfidence, seizing on a bombastic goal of flipping Florida may prove a big mistake (…) As the governor says, Florida is ‘where woke goes to die’ and with his help, it will be where Big Abortion’s plans die too.”