Even in Florida, Voters Love Abortion Rights
This piece first appeared in our weekly newsletter, The Fallout.
Today is a hard day.
There is no denying that a second Donald Trump presidency will be brutal. He promised the same thing during his campaign. I am not a journalist who can offer rosy perspectives, and I won’t do so here. However: In the first presidential election year since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, it is undeniable that voters across the entire country strongly support reproductive autonomy.
Abortion is popular among voters even as they elect leaders who will strip it away.
Voters passed ballot initiatives to protect and/or expand abortion access in New York, Maryland, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, and Missouri. Missouri! These victories are even more significant in an increasingly conservative nation. It would have been a huge win in any state, but especially one that is deeply conservative, if 57 percent of the voters supported a measure which would have restored Roe’s era access. Florida’s 60% threshold for passing ballot measures means that it was not. Florida’s lesson isn’t that abortion rights have lost. Quite the opposite: the lesson here is that voters overwhelmingly support the issue of abortion rights nationwide.
I mean, just look at Missouri.
Florida also shows us that reproductive autonomy and the health of our democracy are inextricably linked. It almost passed despite authoritarian attempts to undermine it, such as sending law enforcement officers to intimidate petition-signers and media outlets that ran ads supporting Amendment 4. The state’s six-week ban was rejected by a large majority of Florida voters, but due to the high threshold required to pass a ballot measure, the current law will remain in place. The next round of organizing is underway against American authoritarianism. We’ve already said it on Boom! Take care of yourself and your friends.
