Like voters in at least six other states this fall, Floridians will have the chance to vote on abortion access through a constitutional amendment.
Since May, Floridians seeking an abortion have faced an added hurdle, as have medical practices and groups that support abortion access.
Today, the procedure is banned in Florida beyond the sixth week of pregnancy with some exceptions. That’s after the Legislature replaced a 15-week ban that had been in place since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The proposed Amendment 4 says, in part, 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.”
The measure, which will be on the Nov. 5 ballot, would need approval from 60% of voters to pass.
"Florida Matters" created space for conversations on both sides of the controversial issue. In a special program recorded live at WUSF in Tampa, you’ll hear the background to the proposed amendment and how it could roll back Florida’s ban.
"The Legislature has the opportunity to weigh in on implementation, and we've seen cases where the Legislature has stopped implementation or partially stopped implementation," said Kathryn Varn, a journalist with Axios Tampa Bay who has extensively covered the Legislature, in particular the abortion issue.
"And so, you know, just because the amendment passes doesn't mean it's going to go into effect immediately. There are still several things that could happen, and challenges that could come up. But for the ball to get rolling at all, it needs that 60% vote threshold."
Bree Wallace, director of case management at Tampa Bay Abortion Fund, said it's a "great amendment, but I don't think it really changes what we do."
"I think it'll be great if it does pass, and it, of course, kind of strikes down a barrier here. But for abortion funds, we're always going to be needed, and we'll probably be needed more if this does pass, because again, we'll go back to being a quote, unquote, safe haven."
John Stemberger, president of Liberty Counsel Action, called it "basically a very extreme amendment, and it's not what it seems. And it's very deceptive. The words are very slippery."
"This amendment has no definitions at all. So with words like health and health care provider, it's very difficult to know what exactly that means," said Stemberger.
"We're encouraging people to read the language because it's very important to know what's being passed. And language is very extreme, and it's very unclear as to what's going on here."
Louis Virelli, professor of constitutional law at Stetson University College of Law, said the Florida Supreme Court has given voters a clear choice.
"I think the amendment is actually a very straightforward explanation of what it's trying to achieve. And for those of us that have been following the jurisprudence of abortion for decades, it's a pretty clear statement of, effectively, the holding in Roe v. Wade," said Virelli.
"This amendment effectively enshrines the Roe v. Wade regime," said Virelli.
"And that's the way I read this plain text, what this amendment will do. So if people are trying to just think of what their lives will be like, legally, it will be the way your life was, the way you experienced the law of abortion from 1973 to 2022."
