This is Gloria Steinem. Last week, voters in my home state of Ohio overturned a statewide abortion ban, and also guaranteed abortion rights in the state constitution. Clearly, the ability to make decisions about our own bodies is the basis of democracy.
Next year, Florida voters may have the chance to support this personal form of democracy, too. However, I’m writing to you now because there is still a big mountain in the way -- and you can help to overcome it.
The Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition is working to collect 900,000 signatures by midnight of December 31 -- signatures in support of a state constitutional amendment that will guarantee abortion rights on the 2024 Florida ballot. Already, they’ve already helped to collect 550,000 signatures.
It has cost $12 million to get this far, and it will cost another $6 million to finish this crucial job. That’s where we come in. PCCC members across the nation have already contributed, and this gives us the momentum to achieve victory.
Though some wrote off Ohio as a red state, I'm proud that organizers there have shown what was possible. Now, this is Florida's moment to rally the public against Governor DeSantis's dangerous policies.
Remember, effective July 2022 Florida has banned abortions at 15 weeks. Worse, Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida state legislature passed a 6-week abortion ban that includes almost no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the mother; and leaves 4 million women and girls in the state of reproductive age without access to lifesaving healthcare. This ban is tied up in court, but it is expected to go into effect -- and that could happen at any time.
72% of Floridians agree that women deserve access to abortion without government interference. That is even greater support than in Ohio, where voters, including a significant proportion of Republicans, overwhelmingly showed up to protect the right to choose.
In Ohio, 57% of Trump voters support the proposed ballot language. The freedom to access abortion is important to Floridians from every walk of life, every faith, and across the political spectrum.
In the sixty years that I've been fighting for abortion rights, one thing I've learned is that political change is like a tree. Too often we think the tree grows from the top down, from Congress and governors and state legislatures, but like a tree, change grows from the bottom up. What you and I do every day determines what is possible in our country.
Today, you and I can make sure that the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition has the resources it needs to collect signatures for an amendment guaranteeing abortion rights on the 2024 ballot in Florida.
I thank you. Together, you and I can preserve reproductive freedom as a basic human right.
With friendship and hope,
-- Gloria Steinem
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