Highly-Contested Abortion Ballot Initiative Fails In Florida, Preserving Six-Week Ban

Floridians rejected a measure to enshrine a constitutional right to abortion Tuesday, retaining the state’s six-week ban.

Amendment 4 is poised to fail, according to the Decision Desk. The amendment would have prevented the state from enforcing any laws that prohibit abortion before viability — around week 22 of pregnancy — and would have allowed the procedure after viability in cases “necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider,” according to the amendment’s text.

“The demise of pro-abortion Amendment 4 is a momentous victory for life in Florida and for our entire country,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement. “Thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis, when we wake up tomorrow, babies with beating hearts will still be protected in the free state of Florida.”

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state’s six-week abortion ban into law in 2023, which allows the procedure up to week 15 of pregnancy in cases of rape, incest and human trafficking. Planned Parenthood challenged the state’s previous 15-week abortion ban in 2022, but Florida’s Supreme Court ruled in April 2024 that the state had the right to enact laws around abortion, upholding the new six-week ban.

Republican Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody challenged the initiative in October of 2023, arguing it did not satisfy the legal requirements to appear on the November ballot, but the state’s Supreme Court disagreed.

“The language in the amendment is misleading as to suggest that it will provide healthcare for pregnant women – anyone can get behind that,” Dr. Ana Garcia Iguaran, an OB/GYN and general practitioner at Mater Dei Clinic in Ave Maria, told the Diocese of Venice, Florida in July. “Of course, pregnant women need healthcare! But that is not what this amendment means or would provide.  It would provide unlimited, unrestricted access to abortion, even for young girls, without their parents’ consent. Abortion is not improving anyone’s life, certainly not the baby’s, and not the mother’s.”

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told reporters in August that he would vote against the amendment, according to Fox News, but declined to comment on Election Day, according to News Nation.

“You need more time than six weeks” Trump told Fox. “I’ve disagreed with that right from the early primaries. When I heard about it, I disagreed with it. At the same time, the Democrats are radical because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation. And, you know, some of the states, like Minnesota and other states have it where you can actually execute the baby after birth and all of that stuff is unacceptable. So I’ll be voting no for that reason.”

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