The ballot measure, spearheaded by a coalition of organizations called Floridians Protecting Freedom, was approved by the Florida Supreme Court on Monday for placement on the 2024 ballot.
“Floridians are coming together to send a clear message — vote YES on Amendment 4 and stop Florida’s 6-week abortion ban. Join the @yes4florida campaign April 13th in Orlando to show our power and start a movement for reproductive freedom!” wrote Floridians Protecting Freedom in a social media post shared Monday.
The ballot measure — a proposed amendment to the state constitution — seeks to limit government interference in access to abortion.BREAKING: Today the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Amendment 4 meets the requirements for this year’s ballot. Floridians WILL get a chance to vote to reject government interference with abortion. Celebrate by joining us on April 13th in Orlando! https://t.co/3tMA2MqfQ1 pic.twitter.com/jmNaG7ZWSM
— Yes on 4 Florida (@yes4florida) April 1, 2024
It reads in part, “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.”
Viability is generally around 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. Florida currently bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest, and is set to ban abortion after six weeks, with limited exceptions, as of May 1.
The initiative slated for the 2024 ballot, designated Amendment 4, would need support from at least 60% of Florida voters in November in order to pass. A November poll from the University of North Florida found 62% of registered Florida voters in support of the proposal — including 53% of polled Republicans.
Meanwhile, about 75% of registered Florida voters polled in March said they either somewhat or strongly opposed a six-week abortion ban, which has been on hold pending a state Supreme Court decision also released Monday.
That is, the same day the court approved the language of the pro-abortion rights ballot measure, the high court also ruled in favor of upholding a law that bans abortion in Florida after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That law, approved in 2022, faced a legal challenge over its constitutionality.
The legal challenge against it was the last barrier in place to the enactment of a stricter six-week abortion ban approved by the Republican-dominated state Legislature and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023.
As a result of the court decision, abortion in Florida will soon be banned after six weeks of pregnancy — a move that could severely curtail abortion access in the U.S. South.
Even with its 15-week limit, Florida has served as a key point of access for people seeking abortion in the South after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Most states in the South today have stricter limits on abortion access than Florida. All surrounding states either ban abortion entirely or have six-week bans in place, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The closest state to legally get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy is North Carolina — which has a 12-week limit — or Virginia, which bans abortion starting at the third trimester.
Further restricting access in Florida would be significant. Over 84,000 people obtained an abortion in Florida in 2023, according to state data, compared to 82,581 in 2022. Data shows much of the increase over the last year can be attributable to a rise in abortions for people who traveled for care from out-of-state.
“The implementation of the 6-week abortion ban in our state will be devastating, and is another example of extreme far-right Republican politicians who will stop at nothing to strip us away of our bodily autonomy and personal decision making,” said State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, in a statement shared Monday.
The dual rulings Monday were a mixed bag. The state Supreme Court — packed with conservative justices — ruled 6–1 in favor of upholding the law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy (thus triggering the six-week ban) while ruling 4–3 in favor of allowing the abortion rights initiative to be placed on the statewide ballot.
The Florida Supreme Court has the final say in determining whether proposed ballot initiatives contain clear, unambiguous language. The court is also required to ensure measures only pertain to a single subject so as not to confuse voters.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a twice-elected Republican who has described herself as “pro-life,” filed a brief with the court in November, arguing that the proposed language around viability would “hoodwink” voters.
She argued Floridians wouldn’t understand what “viability” means, contending it can have multiple meanings, and asked the court to throw the proposal out.
Monday’s ruling from the court stands as a rejection of Moody’s argument. It also comes after organizers with Floridians Protecting Freedom — and allied volunteers — gathered nearly 1 million verified signatures from Floridians in support of the measure. The minimum number of signatures needed was 891,523.
“This is such an important milestone in the effort to ensure doctors like myself can properly care for our pregnant patients facing a wide variety of issues and potential complications,” said Dr. Cecilia Grande, an OB-GYN in Miami, in a statement after the group was told the measure qualified for the ballot.
“Too often, access to abortion and other critical care is politicized at the expense of patients who just need timely and quality health care, not politicians trying to score political points,” Grande continued. “Once voters get a chance to weigh in, Florida will return to a time when patients and health care providers can decide together the best course of action in each unique circumstance.”
Voters in California, Vermont, Michigan, and the red state of Ohio have already voted in favor of ballot measures to strengthen abortion rights, while voters in Kentucky and Montana have similarly voted to reject further proposed restrictions. Florida is one of just a number of states with abortion on the ballot this year.
The planned rally in Orlando, in support of Florida's ballot measure, will take place at noon on Saturday, April 13, at Lake Eola Park downtown.
Meanwhile, advocates against abortion have also announced plans to organize against the measure.
“Our teams of young people will be going door to door, making phone calls, hitting the college campuses and downtown squares to convince Floridians to keep their state from enshrining painful late-term abortion into their Constitution,” said Mike Harrington, president of the anti-abortion group Created Equal, in a statement.
The phrase “late-term abortion” has no medical meaning, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which lists it as a “term to avoid” in discussing the topic.
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