Florida advocates are fighting to protect abortion rights
The Florida Supreme Court’s April 1 ruling that the state’s privacy law does not include abortion rights was no joke. It was not funny that the Florida Supreme Court reversed a decision from 1989. The current court, which is made up of Ron DeSantis’ appointees and is far from the liberal court that established the right to privacy in 1989, has far-reaching implications. The bill’s wording allowed the court to simultaneously replace and uphold a 15-week abortion ban. Advocates call it a total ban, as many are not even aware that they’re pregnant before six weeks.
Enter Floridians Protecting Freedom, which describes itself as “a statewide campaign of allied organizations and concerned citizens working together to protect Floridians’ access to abortion as reproductive health care and defend the right to bodily autonomy.” The coalition includes around 200 local, state, and nationwide organizations–including the ACLU of Florida and Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida–as well as 100 individual health-care providers. Florida Voters Against Extremism is leading their opposition, which includes the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops and Conservatives for Principald Leadership, a PAC led by Paul Renner the state’s speaker of the house. The “Amendment Limiting Government Interference in Abortion”, as proposed by the coalition, states:
No laws shall prohibit, punish, delay or restrict abortions before viability, or when necessary to safeguard the health of the patient, as determined the patient’s healthcare providers. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.
The proposed amendment provides pregnant people with rights that are leaps and bounds from existing Florida law.
Florida’s currently-active abortion ban has exceptions for certain medical emergencies and fetal anomalies, as well as rape and incest. The qualifying conditions make the exceptions useless in some situations. Two physicians must verify in writing that the patient is at serious risk of death or imminent irreversible impairment of major bodily functions of the pregnant women other than psychological conditions. Patients must receive them from a physician in person. For rape, human trafficking, and incest exceptions to be valid, survivors must validate their experience with medical records or police reports. They may also need to provide restraining order or other documentation that “proves”. The state supreme Court’s decision has turned the South into a wasteland in terms of reproductive health. The next closest state is North Carolina, which bans abortion at 12 weeks, but it’s simply not a feasible alternative for many people seeking to terminate their pregnancies.
In addition to the increase in travel time and days off work, the state has guidelines that clearly only exist to further complicate and discourage the process. The state has a 24-hour wait period and requires two in-person appointments for those who want to get an abortion. Amendment 4 will be on the ballot in November, and it would include the right to an abortion into our state constitution. Florida’s citizen ballot initiative is testament to those who live in an area that has been deeply challenged. Our inflation rate is one of the highest in the country. Floridians are known for taking care of their own. The people of my state have always been its lifeblood, and when the six-week-ban passed, we did what everyone does after a major disaster: we got to work cleaning up the mess. In Florida, the number of required signatures must be at least 8 percent of the district-wide vote in the previous presidential election and must be collected from at least half of the state’s 28 congressional districts.
Inclusion on the ballot in this case required 891,523 signatures, which had to be validated by the Division of Elections by February 1, 2024. The campaign was a success despite the obstacles. It has sailed through all the roadblocks on its way to an important Election Day. The coalition also said that it had raised more than $32 million so far. It will be difficult to pass Amendment 4 in Florida, as both the government and populace have moved steadily rightward since DeSantis was elected in 2019. Under his administration, which is a major arms dealer in the manufactured culture war, Florida has quickly gone from being the quintessential swing state to reliably Republican.
Taylor Aguilera, Floridians Protecting Freedom’s organizing director, doesn’t see either of these things as a barrier, citing her experiences on the ground.
“We saw support from nonpartisan, conservative, and liberal voters alike,” she said. “The reality is, limiting government interference with abortion is a nonpartisan issue that a majority of Floridians support.”
Aguilera attributes the campaign’s accomplishments to the sheer determination of supporters and volunteers and their dedication to the cause. Per Aguilera, teams “formed from the Florida Panhandle down to the Florida Keys,” went out into their own communities, and did the legwork necessary to collect signatures.
“You could find our teams anywhere: From farmers markets to concerts to your neighborhood corner store, there would be a canvasser with a clipboard ready to help you sign our petition.” she said.
Volunteers faced everything from extreme summer heat to a state official personally determined to kill the amendment. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a brief in November 2023 arguing that the language used was “vague”, and that it opened the door to so-called “partial” abortions. This is not a medical term and most abortions are performed later in pregnancy due to medical emergency or untreatable health problems of the fetus. Florida would join California, Michigan Ohio and Vermont if Amendment 4 passes. Anti-abortion measures in Kansas, Kentucky, and Montana were defeated.
As for the future of abortion rights in Florida, my optimism is cautious while Aguilera’s is unwavering.
“We have built an incredible movement that is running an ‘all gas, no brakes’ campaign to kick politicians out of our exam rooms,” she said. “We anticipate winning over 60 percent of the vote this November to ensure the Amendment to Limit Government Interference With Abortion is enshrined in our state constitution.”
