Florida ballot initiative to protect abortion rights receives enough signatures

Florida will be the latest state to have abortion rights on the ballot

Abortion rights activists rally after the US Supreme Court striked down the right to abortion, in Miami, Florida, in June 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

Activists seeking to amend Florida’s state constitution to protect abortion rights received the requisite number of signatures to put the amendment on the ballot in November.

Pro-abortion rights activists have sought to follow the path of supporters of abortion rights in Ohio, who last year successfully put an amendment to its state constitution defending abortion rights on the ballot, which passed.

In recent years, Florida has severely restricted abortion. In 2022, Gov Ron DeSantis, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, signed legislation that banned abortion after 15 weeks. In 2023, Mr DeSantis went a step further and signed legislation banning abortion at 6 weeks.

“The fact that we only launched our campaign eight months ago and we’ve already reached our petition goal speaks to the unprecedented support and momentum there is to get politicians out of our private lives and health care decisions,” Lauren Benzel, campaign director for Floridians Protecting Freedom, said in a statement. “Most initiative campaigns never make it this far. The ones that do usually spend far more or take much longer to qualify, which is why we’re so confident that voters will approve our amendment once they’re given a chance to vote.”

The group said it has gathered more than 1 million petition signatures with just 891,523 needed. The Florida Division of Elections website stated on Friday that 910,946 had been verified.

The initiative says 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 adds that the amendment “does not change the Legislature's constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”

The initiative could also likely help Democrats boost turnout in a state that has moved decidedly into the Republican column in recent elections. Florida has no statewide elected Democrats, with its last one, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, losing her campaign for governor in the Democratic primary in 2022.

Ms Fried, now the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party praised the milestone on Friday.

“Normally getting texts in the middle of the night is never good,” she said on X, formerly Twitter. “But learning that the people of Florida did it, that we are going to take back our rights, I will take every night. “

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in its 2022 Dobbs v Jackson decision, every initiative that has attempted to restrict abortion, including in Kentucky, Montana and Kansas has rejected ballot initiatives to restrict abortion access. Conversely, states like California, Michigan and Vermont have voted to protect and enshrine abortion rights.