A constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion will appear on Florida’s November ballot. But will that change who turns out to vote—and for whom?
On Monday, the Florida Supreme Court also upheld the state’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, meaning Florida’s six-week ban will take effect next month.
In a statement, President Joe Biden called it an extreme decision.
“Yesterday’s extreme decision puts desperately needed health care even further out of reach for millions of women in Florida and across the South.
The Court not only upheld Florida’s current ban on women making their own reproductive decisions, but it will likely trigger an even more extreme law from Governor DeSantis that would prevent women from accessing health care before many even know they’re pregnant. It’s outrageous.
Florida’s bans—like those proposed by Republican elected officials across the country—are putting the health and lives of millions of women at risk. These extreme laws take away women’s freedom to make their own health care decisions and threaten doctors with jail time simply for providing the medical care they were trained to give.
Vice President Harris and I stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman’s right to choose, including in Florida, where voters will have the chance to make their voices heard in support of a ballot initiative on reproductive freedom this November.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting reproductive freedom in Florida and across the country and will continue to call on Congress to pass a law that restores the protections of Roe v. Wade in every state.”
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
Florida House Speaker Paul Renner disagrees, calling the six-week ban “a compromise.”
“What Florida has not done is a total ban on abortion, with no exceptions,” he said. “We start when a child has a heartbeat.”
“We also have broad exceptions for rape, incest, human trafficking, the life of the mother, and fetal abnormalities, so it’s a compromise I believe addresses the situation for many Floridians,” Renner added.
Democrats aim to leverage abortion as an issue to help them win the upcoming presidential election.
“Let me be clear: Donald Trump is directly responsible for what’s happening here today,” said Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell in a call with Biden’s campaign manager. “He appointed the justices who overturned Roe, paving the way for bans in Florida and across the Southeast. He continues to brag about overturning Roe.”
“He has said women should be punished for having abortions and has made clear that if reelected, he will try to ban abortions in all 50 states,” she continued.
The Florida Supreme Court decided to let voters have the final say on Amendment 4, which states 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 health care provider.”
Political analyst Tara Newsom believes having these issues on the ballot could boost voter turnout.
“Listen, Ohio is a red state. Florida is a red state,” she said. “When you have voters who care about human rights, reproductive rights, and health care rights.”
“They’re men and women, and they turn out to vote,” she added.
Now strategists are asking: If these hot-button issues bring out more voters, who will they vote for? And could that be enough to start shifting Florida back to its former swing-state status?
“I think we’re looking at November to see if this was too far of a turn with DeSantis, if the culture wars went too far to the right, and whether Florida will try to center itself or not,” Newsom said. “There’s been a lot of talk about the growing number of Republicans in the state, but we have to remember there’s been even greater growth among independents.”
“This is their chance to really show if they’re bringing the state back to a center, back to moderate politics, and truly rejecting that far-right turn DeSantis brought with his culture wars,” she added.
Sixty percent of Florida voters would need to vote in favor of Amendment 4 for it to pass.
Newsom expects that to happen but said the real story will be what Florida’s Legislature does next.
“We have a long history in Florida of taking direct democracy and the will of the people and massaging it once the legislature convenes,” she said. “So we’ll really see if the legislature actually changes the meaning of viability from 24 weeks to something else and if they really scrutinize the health care provider.”
She said those are the two controversial aspects of the constitutional amendment Florida voters will decide on in November.
“That’s the power they have,” Newsom explained. “The power to take the constitutional amendment and then, when they implement it, the implementation language can be manipulated and really create greater obstacles that are actually politically motivated and not driven by direct democracy and the will of the people.”
Image: Wfla
