Pro-Abortion in the State of Florida: A Failure of Future Voting Initiatives to Protect Reproductive Rights in the U.S.
There is a measure that is not clear to voters and is meant to derail an initiative that will determine whether reproductive rights should be constitutionally protected in Ohio. Frank LaRose, Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State, has denied that Issue 1 is related to abortion. He told a group of supporters that they should keep the pro-abortion amendment out of the Constitution.
Issue 1, which Ohio Republican legislators put on the ballot, would make future ballot measures to change the state Constitution harder to pass in two key ways. If it’s approved, citizens who hope to put amendments to the voters would first have to collect signatures in each of the state’s 88 counties, up from 44 now. And to pass, constitutional ballot initiatives would need to win 60 percent of the vote, rather than a simple majority.
There’s a building in the state of Florida. The overturning of Wade has led abortion rights advocates to look at Florida as possibly being able to establish abortion rights in the southeastern U.S.
“As long as I have breath in my body, I will continue my fight for freedom and liberation.” saysTrish Brown who heads Power Up People, a local advocacy organization.
There is a movement for a constitutional amendment that protects access to abortion as Brown is outside of the Capitol.
The Coalition Against Proposed Amendments to the Florida Abortion Law: Acting on a Storm and Coming to a Local Church
It’s been stormy most of the day, so the volunteers are packing up boxes of t-shirts, water bottles and paperwork, and heading to a local church to regroup and maybe wait out the storm.
Brown says if it were up to her, they’d stay and get soaked. She says the weather has never hampered her determination, despite their plans not being taken seriously.
The fight is happening all over the state. The lead singer of the band Paramore called out on stage to 1,300 people and they signed onto the effort. In Clearwater, a woman brought petitions to her choir practice, while another woman asked for support from her book club in Naples.
So far, organizers say they’ve collected almost half a million petitions—nearly half of what they’re aiming for. The proposed amendment will need a total of 891,523 verified signatures to make it onto the ballot, but some will be thrown out.
“And they understand the gravity of that and it’s speaking to the same thing we’ve seen nationwide, which is when you give decisions around abortion to the voters, they don’t want politicians involved in those decisions.”
Source: Voters could decide the future of abortion access in Florida
Florida Abortion Access Campaign: How Voters Are Fighting for a Right-to-Life Right in the Presence of a Future Supreme Court Language Review
The movement isn’t all about the grassroots. The group Floridians Protection of Freedom is getting aid from a bunch of organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union.
More national support is expected once the measure passes a state Supreme Court ballot language review. It would take at least 60 percent of voters to change the constitution in November of 2024.
“Floridians have made it clear that they don’t want politicians interfering in their personal medical decisions,” says Sarah Standiford, National Campaigns Director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
A poll conducted in the lead-up to the recent legislative session by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab shows 75% of voters either somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the state’s six-week abortion ban.
If Florida’s six week ban goes into effect, people from Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama will have to travel farther to access care. Many Florida patients will be forced to travel to states that have less restrictions.
Data from the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration shows so far this year, 3,390 out-of-state residents received abortions in Florida out of 38,244 abortions reported.
He says he imagines Floridians in the voting booth with their ballot in hand and a decision to make: “Abortion access, or constitutional recognition of the right to life for the pre born.”
The campaign to protect abortion access is moving quicker than Minck’s amendment campaign. The reversal of the law gave a boost to those in favor of abortion access.
Minck says he has a lot in common with the people fighting to protect abortion access: Both sides want to amend the state constitution, both want help from voters to get their movements passed and both are responding to “discontentment with the Florida Legislature.”
People who would normally support his campaign are still high-fiving each other over that reversal. Minck hopes the measures go to the ballot so people can debate and voters can have a choice.