For Shiann Walthour, who is 18 years old and voting in November for the first time, the ballot amendment to expand abortion rights in Florida is personal: One of her family members required an abortion because of medical complications during their pregnancy. She’s voting “yes” on Amendment 4.
For Ibo Alkhal, 29, who is Muslim, the abortion issue is a moral one. He says he cannot accept a law that would allow a human being to take the “soul away” of another human being. He’s voting “no” on Amendment 4.
With less than six weeks until Election Day, the future of abortion rights hangs in the balance as Florida voters decide whether to keep the state’s strict abortion law in place or expand abortion rights.
The language of Amendment 4, formally titled “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion,” reads: “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. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
“Yes on 4 is the only way to stop Florida’s dangerous abortion ban and limit government interference in important medical decisions,” says Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group backing Amendment 4.
The group’s campaign director, Lauren Brenzel, warns the current state law — which bans abortion after six weeks — is effectively a near-total abortion ban because many women don’t even know they’re pregnant at six weeks.
“This ban takes effect before many women even realize they’re pregnant, and alarmingly, it again, doesn’t have any real exceptions for rape, incest or health of the woman,” she told reporters on a conference call. “It’s immoral, it’s heartbreaking, it’s cruel that women in our state are being forced to give birth despite doctors telling them that their own health or the health of their fetus is at grave risk all to give birth to babies that die within their arms minutes after being born.”
Floridians Protecting Freedom has raised more than $50 million for its campaign, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks federal and state campaign finance data.
Amendment 4 opponents, including Vote No on Amendment 4 Florida and Florida Catholic Bishops, argue it’s “far too extreme” and that it’s “deceptively worded.” They argue that, if passed, the amendment would repeal the state’s parental consent laws; that “healthcare providers” are not limited to doctors; and that it will be challenged in court resulting in years of litigation.
“Amendment 4 is not what it seems. It’s far too extreme for Florida. That’s why, instead of explaining what the amendment would actually do, the radical groups backing Amendment 4 resort to deflection and outright lying about Florida’s current laws,” said Taryn Fenske, in a statement released Sept. 16.
The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has long opposed abortion, issued a recent statement condemning Amendment 4.
“[It’s] an extreme proposal that legalizes full-term abortion with no protections for the preborn child, including when the child is capable of feeling pain,” the group says. “This proposed amendment to our state constitution would prohibit all restrictions on abortion before viability and create a broad exception that any healthcare provider could exploit to allow abortion up to birth.
Polls show a large percentage of likely Florida voters are still trying to make up their minds about Amendment 4.
The latest statewide poll released early last month (Sept. 6) shows 20% are undecided. A majority of those polled said they plan to vote “yes” but that majority is only 55% — short of the 60% required for passage. About 26% of the poll respondents said they would vote “no.”
That poll by The Hill/Emerson College Polling mirrored a statewide poll by FAU/Mainstreet Research in August that found 56% would vote “yes” on Amendment 4, but that about 23% were undecided. About 21% planned to vote no.
“These voters that don’t know how they would vote if faced with the ballot initiative could go either way come November,” said Luzmarina Garcia Ph.D., assistant professor of political science at FAU.
Florida voters like Walthour and Alkhal have no doubts about how they plan to vote.
“I don’t think that people…or the government themselves, should be allowed to stop people from being able to have an abortion, especially…because there are many other things that can contribute to somebody being pregnant,” said Walthour, who favors Amendment 4. “Not all the time is it someone’s choice or are they fortunate enough to be able to raise a child in their own conditions.”
Said Alkhal, who is not supporting Amendment 4 and wants a total abortion ban: “I believe that sometimes when there is a soul put into a body, it’s nobody’s right to take that soul away, whether it’s under the six weeks or after the six-week period.”
