Meet the Coalition Fighting to Protect Abortion in Florida

[Passages]

Amendment 4 needs 60 percent support to pass. Organizers are fanning out across the state to get the votes.

by Ramenda Cyrus September 12, 2024

This November, Florida voters will be presented with a ballot initiative called the “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion,” or Amendment 4, which would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution. The measure, which reads, “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,” will need 60 percent of the vote to pass.

The effort to get the amendment passed has been conducted through a grassroots coalition of women’s rights groups called Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF), and more informally, “Yes on 4.” These groups include the ACLU of Florida, Planned Parenthood of Florida, and Florida Rising, an organizing coalition that works on other issues such as criminal justice system reform and housing justice. More than 200 organizations have joined FPF/Yes on 4.


Amendment 4 follows a recent trend in state politics triggered by the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Since the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, multiple states have, directly and indirectly, passed ballot initiatives concerned with protecting the right to an abortion, including Ohio, Kentucky, and Kansas. Amendment 4 also comes at a particularly important moment for Florida state politics, along with another amendment concerned with legalizing recreational marijuana use. Both of these represent a potential rebuke to the GOP leaders in Florida, at a time when the Democratic Party is trying to return to relevance in the state.

But for the organizers at FPF, the issue of a right to an abortion is unrelated to political trends in Florida. They believe they have the momentum to protect reproductive rights, if they can guard against pro-life interference, organize, and get the word out to voters. The Prospect spoke with a few of these organizers in Floridians Protecting Freedom about the movement and their hopes for the November election.
https://prospect.org/health/2024-09-12-coalition-fighting-protect-abortion-florida/