The proposed Florida abortion amendment will include a somber warning about its financial impact, including the possibility that taxpayers may wind up paying for the procedures if the measure passes.
In a 6-1 decision, the Florida Supreme Court refused to strike the revised financial impact statement appearing on the November ballot with Amendment 4, a pro-choice measure that would eradicate state restrictions on abortion, including its current “heartbeat” law.
The ruling released Wednesday came as a victory for No on 4 Florida, the pro-life group fighting the measure.
“This statement advises voters that Amendment 4 could result in taxpayer-funded abortions, and would allow abortions to be performed on minors without a parent’s consent — information that Florida voters deserve to know, and that the extremists who wrote amendment 4 are attempting to hide,” said No on 4 grassroots director Sara Johnson.
Condemning the ruling was the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which blasted the decision as a “direct affront to the rights of Florida voters.”
“We are disheartened by the Florida Supreme Court’s refusal to take action against the State’s politicization of these financial impact statements and flagrant bypassing of the judicial safeguards that are supposed to protect the integrity of our electoral process,” said ACLU staff attorney Michelle Morton in a statement.
Floridians Protecting Freedom, the pro-choice organization behind the amendment, argued that the state’s Financial Impact Estimating Conference lacked the authority to revise the statement, but the high court disagreed.
The abortion-rights advocacy group “never questioned the Estimating Conference’s authority to voluntarily adopt a revised financial impact statement,” said Chief Justice Carlos Muniz, writing for the majority.
“Instead, they actively participated in every step of the revision process without objection,” he said in the 14-page opinion. “These actions preclude the extraordinary relief the petitioners now seek.”
Kudos to the Florida Supreme Court for allowing a financial impact statement for FL’s Amendment 4 to appear on the ballot. Takeaway? Am 4 will increase abortion, eliminate parental consent, burden the state budget and force Floridians to foot the bill.https://t.co/U3Dp7hAs9s
— Liberty Counsel (@libertycounsel) August 21, 2024
Amendment 4, called the Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion, would ban the state from impeding abortion access before fetal viability — typically 23-24 weeks gestation — or “when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
The measure concludes: “This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
Pro-life advocates argue that the amendment would legalize abortion on demand up until birth, given that courts have determined that “health” includes mental health, and that the “healthcare provider” could include a Planned Parenthood practitioner.
The revised 150-word financial statement begins: “The proposed amendment would result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births per year in Florida.”
It continues: “The increase in abortions could be even greater if the amendment invalidates laws requiring parental consent before minors undergo abortions and those ensuring only licensed physicians perform abortions. There is also uncertainty about whether the amendment will require the state to subsidize abortions with public funds. Litigation to resolve those and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to the state government and state courts that will negatively impact the state budget. An increase in abortions may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time. Because the fiscal impact of increased abortions on state and local revenues and costs cannot be estimated with precision, the total impact of the proposed amendment is indeterminate.”
Passage of amendments to the Florida state constitution requires a 60% majority.
Abortion-related measures also have qualified for the November state ballots in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York and South Dakota, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation tracker.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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