(LifeSiteNews) — Florida pro-lifers, led by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, defeated a proposed amendment to embed a “right” to abortion in the state Constitution on Tuesday, breaking the abortion lobby’s two-year winning streak with amendments and denying them their most desired victory yet.
Amendment 4, the so-called “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion,” 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 healthcare provider.” It would have required abortion to be allowed for any reason before fetal “viability” and render post-“viability” bans effectively meaningless by exempting any abortion that an abortionist claims is for “health” reasons.
If successful, it would have overturned all of the Sunshine State’s pro-life laws, including its six-week abortion ban.
Abortion, the destruction of an innocent unborn child in his mother’s womb, is always gravely immoral and never needed nor justifiable to protect a mother’s life or health.
The amendment ostensibly says that it “does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.” But many, such as DeSantis, have warned that “there’s a difference between consent,” which is what current law requires, “and notification. 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.”
Out-of-state leftist groups such as Planned Parenthood, the SEIU, and George Soros’s donor network poured more than $40 million into the fight for Amendment 4, but it finished with 57.11% support, short of the 60% threshold Florida requires for constitutional amendments.
DeSantis took an aggressive lead in working to defeat the amendment, including the launch of a new PAC to fight it, investigating alleged fraud used to collect the signatures that put it on the ballot, lobbying other Florida Republicans to speak up, work by the state health department to disseminate the real facts about both current law and the amendment, and a recent statewide day of prayer for Florida’s pro-life protections. Polling showed that Floridians were less likely to support it upon learning what it actually did.
This summer, the projected winner of the presidential election, former President Donald Trump, answered that he would be voting against Amendment 4 after some initial confusion about his position, but declined to confirm he had actually done so when asked about it on Election Day, instead admonishing a reporter to “just stop talking about that.”
Up until now, the abortion lobby has had consistent success since the overturn of Roe v. Wade using false claims that pro-life laws are dangerous to stoke fear about the issue among the general public, most visibly in the area of state constitutional amendments declaring “rights” to abortion immune from future legislation.
Pro-lifers have either failed to 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, as well as a debate among Republicans over the political ramifications of continuing to take a clear pro-life position.
On Tuesday, results were not as positive for life outside of Florida, which was just one of 10 states with such amendments on the ballot. So far, pro-abortion amendments have passed in Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, and New York. In Nebraska, a constitutional amendment banning elective abortion after the first trimester (while not addressing early-term abortions either way) succeeded.
Florida Voice for the Unborn’s executive director Andrew Shirvell issued the following statement regarding Florida voters’ historic rejection of the abortion industry’s attempt to enshrine an explicit “right” to abortion in the state Constitution:
Florida Voice for the Unborn is deeply grateful that the LORD heard the prayers of His faithful and that pro-abortion Amendment 4 fell well short of the 60% threshold needed for passage. This historic victory was ensured by the outstanding hard work and sheer determination of Florida’s authentic grassroots pro-life movement.
Florida Voice for the Unborn has been on the front-lines of this epic fight from the very beginning when the abortion industry launched its evil petition-gathering efforts in early May 2023. Through Florida Voice for the Unborn’s 2023 and 2024 Dobbs Day events, we were able to organize grassroots opposition by initiating the state’s first and foremost ‘Decline to Sign Campaign’ and this year’s ‘Precinct-Level Vote NO on #4 Campaign,’the latter of which was centered on contacting registered Republican voters who were highly likely to vote in this year’s General Election. Throughout the state, our precinct captains and other faithful volunteers distributed the vast majority of our 60,000 unique and highly effective palm cards and door-hangers, which featured President Donald Trump’s opposition to Amendment 4 and Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for it. In the closing weeks of the campaign, Florida Voice for the Unborn also conducted mass mailings, sending our lit pieces to thousands of highly-engaged Republican voters in key precincts.”
Shirvell concluded, “Florida Voice for the Unborn is exceedingly pleased that Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida finally stepped-up to the plate and took a long-awaited firm stance in support of Florida’s unborn children during the campaign to defeat Amendment 4. With the Florida abortion industry in full retreat, now is the time to build upon Florida’s Heartbeat Protection Law and end the killing of Florida’s preborn children once and for all. The only realistic way to ensure that Florida becomes totally abortion-free is for the Legislature to pass complete legal protections for unborn children, from the moment of conception. Accordingly, Florida Voice for the Unborn renews our call for Governor DeSantis to press the Legislature to enact such protections during next year’s Legislative Session.”