Voters rejected a Florida proposal to add abortion rights to the state constitution in Tuesday’s election, handing the pro-choice movement its first statewide ballot-measure defeat since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
With 92% of ballots counted, the Associated Press declared that Amendment 4 had lost after garnering 57% of the vote, short of the 60% threshold required to approve a state constitutional amendment.
Amendment 4 would have allowed unfettered abortion until viability, or about 23-24 weeks of gestation, and then afterward to “protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider,” which includes mental health.
The amendment did say that it would not change the Legislature’s ability to require minors to obtain parental notification before an elective pregnancy termination.
The measure’s defeat keeps in place Florida’s heartbeat law, which bars most abortions after six weeks’ gestation with exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking.
The pro-choice Yes on 4 campaign outspent the opposition by nearly 10 to 1, but in the pro-life movement’s corner was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who fought doggedly to beat back the measure.
“Up against more than $110 million from the abortion lobby and an army of legacy media reporters going to bat for Amendment 4, DeSantis did not back down,” said Protect Women Florida Action, the No on 4 campaign. “He traveled across the state to make sure voters knew the measure would allow abortion at any point and take away parental consent.”
Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, said that the Republican governor’s leadership was “critical and points to a successful model other states should look to when facing similar challenges.”
She credited Mr. DeSantis for using “his resources and platform to effectively combat the onslaught of disinformation from Amendment 4 backers whose massive spending advantage was not enough to get this deceptive and dangerous proposal across the finish line.”
Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, pointed out that Amendment 4 still secured more than 50% of the vote, calling it “a historic outcome that demonstrates how the majority of Floridians reject the state’s near-total abortion ban.”
“We must demand that the FL Legislature repeal the ban,” she said on X. “We are the majority, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Entering Tuesday’s election, the pro-choice side has won in all seven of the seven statewide ballot fights since Roe was overturned in June 2022.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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