[A Florida Supreme Court decision is expected to trigger a
six-week ban passed by the Republican-led state legislature. But an
effort is now underway to enshrine the right to abortion in Floridas
constitution up to the point of fetal viability.]
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FLORIDA ACTIVISTS AIM TO PUT ABORTION RIGHTS ON THE BALLOT  
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Regan McCarthy
August 4, 2023
NPR
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_ A Florida Supreme Court decision is expected to trigger a six-week
ban passed by the Republican-led state legislature. But an effort is
now underway to enshrine the right to abortion in Florida's
constitution up to the point of fetal viability. _

Abortion rights advocates gather on the lawn of Florida's historic
Capitol to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe
v. Wade in 2022, Regan McCarthy/Regan McCarthy/WSFU

 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Since the overturning of _Roe v.
Wade, _advocates have turned their eyes toward Florida as a potential
foothold for abortion rights in the Southeastern U.S.

The state bans most abortions after 15 weeks, but this fall a Florida
Supreme Court decision is expected to trigger a six-week ban passed by
the Republican-led state legislature earlier this year.

Now an effort is underway to protect the right to an abortion in
Florida's constitution up to the point of fetal viability.

"As long as I have breath in my body, I'm going to continue to fight
for freedom and liberation," says Trish Brown, who heads Power Up
People, a local advocacy organization.

"I'm going to always continue to fight for being able to have control
over my own body."

Brown is outside Florida's historic Capitol with other advocates
hoping to raise awareness about the movement for a constitutional
amendment protecting access to abortion.

It's been stormy most of the day, so the volunteers are packing up
boxes of t-shirts, water bottles and paperwork, and heading to a local
church to regroup and maybe wait out the storm.

Brown says if it were up to her, they'd stay and get soaked. The
weather has dampened their plans for a rally, but she says it has
never dampened her resolve.

_"_We wouldn't be out here fighting the way that we are if we didn't
believe in what we're fighting for," Brown says.

Trish Brown stands in the rain outside Florida's historic Capitol.
She's there to raise awareness about social justice issues moving
forward in Florida including a proposed constitutional amendment that
would protect access to abortion. Regan McCarthy/WSFU

That fight is happening all over Florida. In Orlando, after
an on-stage call out 
[[link removed]]from
Hayley Williams, lead singer of the band Paramore, 1,300 people signed
onto the effort. In Clearwater, a woman brought petitions to her choir
practice and in Naples, another woman sought support from her book
club.

"What we're seeing is that the volunteer component of this is
absolutely massive and is going to garner us hundreds of thousands of
petitions," says Lauren Brenzel, Campaign Director for Floridians
Protecting Freedom [[link removed]]—the
group leading the push for the amendment.

So far, organizers say they've collected almost half a million
petitions—nearly half of what they're aiming for. A total of 891,523
verified signatures are required to get the proposed amendment on the
ballot and organizers know some will get thrown out.

Brenzel says the volunteer enthusiasm surrounding the campaign means
something.

"It says that people are angry about political interference in their
decisions about healthcare," Brenzel says.

"And they understand the gravity of that and it's speaking to the same
thing we've seen nationwide, which is when you give decisions around
abortion to the voters, they don't want politicians involved in those
decisions."

Advocates see Florida as an essential access point in the Southeast

The movement isn't all grassroots. Floridians Protecting Freedom is
getting help from more than a dozen advocacy organizations, including
national groups like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood.

More national support is expected once the measure passes a state
Supreme Court ballot language review. Then, it would take support from
60% of the voters who turn out in November of 2024 to change the state
constitution.

"Floridians have made it clear that they don't want politicians
interfering in their personal medical decisions," says Sarah
Standiford, National Campaigns Director of the Planned Parenthood
Action Fund.

She believes the proposal will clear the 60% threshold. "That's clear
from poll after poll."

A poll 
[[link removed]]conducted
in the lead-up to the recent legislative session by the University of
North Florida's Public Opinion Research Lab shows 75% of voters either
somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the state's six-week abortion ban.

And Standiford says there is more evidence that voters want to protect
abortion in Florida.

In 2012, voters defeated a proposed amendment 
[[link removed](2012)]that
would have specified Florida's constitution could not be interpreted
to provide greater abortion protection than the U.S. Constitution.

"It's clear that the last time a question about abortion was on the
ballot, Floridians voted to make private healthcare decisions without
governmental intrusion," she explains.

But how voters feel is just one factor the organizers considered when
launching this campaign.

They also considered the amendment process and Florida's regional
importance—it's one of the only remaining Southeastern states
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allows abortion after six weeks, which Standiford says makes access to
abortion in Florida "particularly important."

During the recent legislative session, Florida lawmakers passed a
six-week ban, but it hasn't gone into effect. It's pending a decision
by the state Supreme Court on Florida's 15-week ban.

In the past, justices have held that a privacy clause in the state
constitution protects access to abortion until viability. In a
challenge going before the court in September, the justices, who are
more conservative now than when that ruling was made in 1989, are
expected to overturn that finding and uphold Florida's 15-week ban.

If that happens, the six-week ban will be triggered, creating what
Brenzel describes as a "crisis point" for abortion in the South.

Data from the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration
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so far this year, 3,390 out-of-state residents received abortions in
Florida out of 38,244 abortions reported.

If Florida's six-week ban goes into effect, people coming from places
like Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama will have to travel farther
to access care. Brenzel says it also means many Florida patients will
have to travel to states with lesser restrictions.

"There are too many people across the state of Florida who are going
to need to access abortion care and there aren't enough states that
can be forced to absorb those patients," Brenzel says.

[How many miles do you have to travel to get abortion care? One
professor maps it]
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SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS [[link removed]]

How many miles do you have to travel to get abortion care? One
professor maps it
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"Unfortunately, people in Florida are about to live in a reality
that's going to make the consequences of these abortion bans very
apparent and unfortunately that's going to be at the expense of
Florida women."

Abortion opponents are proposing an amendment, too

At the same time, a proposed amendment to block abortion
[[link removed]] access in most cases is also moving
forward. So far, state data shows about 16,000 people have signed
petitions for that amendment headed by Mark Minck.

Minck says he has a lot in common with the people fighting to protect
abortion access: Both sides want to amend the state constitution, both
want help from voters to get their movements passed and both are
responding to "discontentment with the Florida Legislature."

Minck, who was adopted, says that while the abortion landscape has
changed significantly since 2018 when he started working on this
initiative, his goal of protecting "unborn life" hasn't. It's
something he thinks belongs in the state constitution.

"If we fail and we're not approved, at least we spoke on behalf of
pre-born human lives that can't speak for themselves," he says.

Minck acknowledges that his amendment campaign isn't moving forward as
quickly as the campaign to protect abortion access. He credits that in
part to the reversal of _Roe v. Wade_, which energized those in
support of abortion access.

On the other hand, people who would usually support his campaign are
still "high-fiving each other" over that reversal. In a way, Minck
says, he hopes both measures make it to the ballot, so people can have
a healthy debate and voters can have a choice.

He says he imagines Floridians in the voting booth with their ballot
in hand and a decision to make: "Abortion access, or constitutional
recognition of the right to life for the pre born."

_Regan McCarthy [[link removed]] is
Assistant News Director for WFSU Public Media._

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