Florida activists push for ballot initiative
State currently has a 15-week ban in place, with legal challenges to a heartbeat law passed in April
Florida is one of the latest states to have pro-choice activists push for a ballot initiative to enshrine reproductive rights within its state constitution.
Last week, they reached the signature threshold for the State Supreme Court to review the ballot question’s language. They will need to get 891,000 signatures by February to have it before voters in the next presidential election. Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, was optimistic about the chance of success.
“Eight out of 10 people are like, ‘Yeah, let me sign that.’ It's a very popular issue. They do not want the government interfering in their health care decisions.”
Goodhue said they will focus on crowd canvassing to get the number of signatures and to get the ballot initiative passed.
Florida has 15 abortion providers right now. Currently, the state has a 15-week abortion ban that has been in place since July 2022. They are litigating a six-week ban that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in April. The amendment would protect abortion rights up to viability, around the 22nd-24th week, when lung development is sufficient to support life outside the womb. Goodhue said they have collected 600,000 signatures.
Goodhue said the state legislature, which is predominantly Republican, has sought to make it harder to pass a ballot initiative. She doesn’t think they will be able to stop them, however. It will be a little more complicated than it was in Ohio because they will have to have a 60 percent threshold of voters to cross for the initiative to pass.
After the election, if they succeed, they plan on challenging some existing laws.
“If the amendment passes, that 15-week ban is unconstitutional. So, if we have to take that to court, we will. But it would seem like that would automatically be unconstitutional.”
Goodhue said that the antiabortion laws and political efforts haven’t gone over well in the state.
“This is just wildly unpopular in Florida as it is in other states,” she said. “And it's very empowering for people to take their rights into their own hands and run this campaign. And this is a citizen-led initiative, and going well. So we're really excited about it.”