Amendment 4 is rejected by Florida voters, keeping state’s 6-week abortion ban in place, CBS News projects

Modification 4 has been rejected by Florida voters within the 2024 election, CBS Information tasks, that means Florida’s six-week abortion ban will stay in place.

The modification, which sought to enshrine abortion rights within the state’s structure, didn’t obtain approval from at the very least 60% of voters.

“This end result is actually welcomed by all those that acknowledge that human life begins at conception and that this can be a scientific and organic truth and never merely a non secular perception or ideological concept,” mentioned Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami in an announcement. “As such the unborn little one ought to be welcomed in life and guarded by regulation.”

Modification 4 was amongst six poll measures that proposed adjustments to Florida’s structure. 

What’s Modification 4?

Modification 4, titled “Modification to Restrict Authorities Interference with Abortion,” states that “no regulation shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or prohibit abortion earlier than viability or when essential to guard the affected person’s well being, as decided by the affected person’s healthcare supplier.”

The modification wouldn’t have an effect on a present constitutional provision that allows a regulation requiring dad and mom to be notified earlier than a minor can obtain an abortion.

The Florida measure did not clear the required 60% voter approval threshold to go constitutional amendments in Florida. Most states require a easy majority.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the nationwide anti-abortion group SBA Professional-Life America, mentioned in an announcement that the result’s “a momentous victory for all times in Florida and for our complete nation,” praising Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for main the cost towards the measure.

DeSantis and the Republican Occasion of Florida had urged voters to reject Modification 4. Many opponents of the modification argued that the language of the measure was “too excessive” and imprecise with its definition of “viability,” saying it could permit late-term abortions and endanger pregnant sufferers.

Supporters had mentioned it could deliver again protections misplaced when Roe v. Wade was overturned. They argued it could assist put reproductive healthcare again within the arms of Florida sufferers and their medical doctors, saying that politicians shouldn’t be allowed to intrude with private healthcare selections or forestall medical professionals from treating sufferers.

Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Middle of Reproductive Rights, mentioned in an announcement after its rejection on Tuesday evening that Floridians are “dwelling underneath an abortion ban they did not ask for or don’t desire.”

“As the vast majority of Florida voters made clear tonight, they need their reproductive freedom again. However because of the excessive 60% threshold and the state’s disinformation marketing campaign, they need to proceed to dwell with the worry, uncertainty, and denial of care attributable to the reversal of Roe,” she mentioned. “So too will numerous ladies within the southeastern U.S., which is able to stay for now a digital abortion desert.”

The defeat makes everlasting a shift within the Southern abortion panorama that started when the state’s six-week ban took impact in Could. That eliminated Florida as a vacation spot for abortion for a lot of ladies from close by states with deeper bans and likewise led to way more ladies from the state touring to acquire abortion. The closest states with looser restrictions are North Carolina and Virginia — a whole bunch of miles away.

“The fact is due to Florida’s structure a minority of Florida voters have determined Modification 4 is not going to be adopted,” mentioned Lauren Brenzel, marketing campaign director for the Sure on 4 Marketing campaign. “The fact is a majority of Floridians simply voted to finish Florida’s abortion ban.”

Regardless of Tuesday’s outcomes, management from the Florida chapter of the ACLU mentioned in an announcement that it stays “steadfast” in its dedication to overturn the state’s abortion ban and guarantee Floridians can get the care they want with out authorities interference.

“Regardless of unprecedented opposition from Governor DeSantis and his allies, who sought to confuse and divide voters and stop them from even with the ability to vote on the modification in any respect, this motion has sparked a strong, unbreakable unity that transcends right now’s end result,” mentioned Govt Director Bacardi Jackson. “The motion for reproductive freedom in Florida is stronger than ever. This election is however one chapter in our journey to safeguard the rights, dignity, and futures of each individual in our state.”

Michelle Morton, the workers legal professional of the ACLU of Florida, shared related sentiments, saying that “the truth that a majority of Floridians backed Modification 4 sends an plain message: we refuse to let our rights be trampled.”

“Floridians throughout this state have demanded the liberty to make their very own selections about their our bodies, and we cannot let political roadblocks silence that decision. We stand firmly with each one that has been impacted by Florida’s oppressive abortion bans,” she mentioned. “Our struggle is way from over, and we’re extra decided than ever to interrupt down these obstacles till each Floridian can train their basic rights with dignity and with out authorities interference.”

“This end result is probably not what we fought for, however it’s solely fueled our resolve. Floridians confirmed up in pressure to defend reproductive freedom, and we’re simply getting began,” added Sara Latshaw, the chair of Floridians Defending Freedom. “The power of this motion is unbreakable, and we cannot relaxation till each impediment to justice and autonomy is eliminated. In the present day was a setback, however tomorrow is one other step ahead. We’re able to hold preventing, stronger and extra united, till each Floridian has the precise to manage their very own physique and their very own future.”

The Florida Democratic Occasion additionally shared an identical assertion, with Chair Nikki Fried calling the rejection of Modification 4 a “heartbreaking loss.”

“Although the modification didn’t meet the excessive threshold to go, the vast majority of Floridians are nonetheless against Florida’s excessive abortion ban and the legislature has an obligation to respect the need of the individuals and act – repeal this excessive ban,” she mentioned. “If they do not, it’s as much as Congress to revive reproductive freedom nationwide.” 

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Courtroom issued its blockbuster resolution within the case Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies’s Well being Group, which successfully overturned Roe v. Wade and threw abortion coverage again to the states. Greater than a dozen states have since enacted near-total bans on abortion, whereas it’s severely restricted in different states. Among the many bans, Florida’s regulation is taken into account to be among the many strictest.

The Republican-controlled state legislature and DeSantis accredited the state’s six-week ban final 12 months, constructing upon a 2022 regulation that banned abortions after 15 weeks. The Florida Supreme Courtroom upheld the 2022 regulation, which cleared the best way for the six-week restrict to take impact.

Florida’s ban on most abortions after six weeks of being pregnant – earlier than many ladies know they’re pregnant – went into impact in Could, almost two years after the Supreme Courtroom resolution.

Since Could, many Floridians have fought forwards and backwards about whether or not to revive abortion entry within the state by proposing a change to the state’s structure.