Phelan M. Ebenhack via AP
A supporter of Amendment 4 in Orlando, Florida, April 20, 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.
“This is a nonpartisan issue. We are seeing support from Republicans, independents, and Democrats alike when we are out talking to voters. Voters understand that the current abortion ban in Florida goes too far and it has, as a result, put lives at risk,” Taylor Aguilera, the organizing director of Floridians Protecting Freedom, told the Prospect.
The passing of a voter-led amendment is not an easy task, especially in a state as large as Florida.
Currently, Florida law prevents abortions after six weeks, one of the most extreme restrictions in the country. Previously, state law prevented abortions after 15 weeks, which made it a sort of “safe haven” in the Southeast for abortion. As NBC News reported, the Guttmacher Institute found that, in 2023, more than 9,300 abortion seekers traveled to Florida for the procedure from out of state. The ban was further restricted to six weeks in April 2023, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new bill in what the Associated Press called a “closed-door ceremony … without fanfare.” Abortions continued in the state up to 15 weeks until the Florida Supreme Court allowed the six-week ban to go into effect in May of this year.
While the change has caused strain for abortion seekers and women seeking reproductive care more generally, the tightening of restrictions seems to have also spurred energy in the electorate.
The passing of a voter-led amendment is not an easy task, especially in a state as large as Florida. First, the amendment petition must be signed by registered Florida voters to put it on the ballot. Signatures are also required to be at least 8 percent of votes cast in 2020 per district.
FPF told the Prospect that over 5,500 volunteers worked on petition collection. In the end, FPF managed to collect almost a million valid signatures; about 900,000 were required. The signatures were verified by Secretary of State Cord Byrd in February of this year.
Cheyenne Drews, deputy communications director for Progress Florida, noted that the campaign was extensive about where they looked for signatures—be it on a college campus, at concerts, barbecues, or churches.
“Initiative was taken on the local level [with] volunteer leaders just meeting voters anywhere they could find them,” Drews told the Prospect. “And people were honestly chasing us down at some points to be able to sign.”
Florida also has a higher threshold than other states for passing voter-led initiatives. Most of the 17 states where voter-led constitutional amendments are permitted only require a simple majority to pass, but Florida requires 60 percent of voters to approve the amendment.
Since the signatures were approved, the coalition has been focused on gathering confirmed votes for the amendment by hosting “Super Saturday” events across the state. Event examples include canvasses, phone banks, letter-writing campaigns, and other actions in cities from Pensacola to Sarasota to Miami.
“It again offers opportunities for local leaders to mobilize their communities and to align with our messaging that we know is effective to get the word out,” Drews said.
I attended a neighborhood canvass in Pensacola, walking with organizers in the 90-degree heat. This canvass was rather quiet, with just a few organizers and volunteers. Given Pensacola’s conservative nature and small-town feel, this was not a surprise. Still, the doors were knocked and there were even some positive impressions.
The lackluster engagement on this day in Pensacola is hardly a measure of how successful these events are in general. On that Super Saturday, FPF hosted more than 50 events across the state.
Down the coast in Sarasota, a city that Donald Trump won in 2020 by almost 30,000 votes, the Unitarian Universalists of Sarasota (UUSRQ) organized 63 volunteers who participated in canvassing, phone-banking, and postcard writing.
“The dedication of everyone that showed up really paid off,” Hilles Hughes, communications coordinator for UUSRQ, told the Prospect in a written response, noting that they reached over 1,100 voters by the end of that day, exceeding expectations. “It was inspiring to see so many people from our congregation and the broader community come together for this cause,” Hughes said.
Voters seem to be most responsive to limiting government interference in bodily autonomy, no matter their party affiliation.
Sharron Howard, another organizer in Sarasota, noted some comments made by volunteers and voters, from “the nerve of politicians thinking they could take our rights away” to “I can’t believe I am fighting this fight again.”
FPF told the Prospect that over 9,000 doors were knocked across the state on that Saturday alone, two months before the election. According to the organizers, voters seem to be most responsive to limiting government interference in bodily autonomy, no matter their party affiliation.
“The thing that seems to resonate the most with the folks that I talk to is the fact that our current abortion ban is at six weeks, and that is before most women even know that they are pregnant,” Jodi Wilkof, president of the Rapid Benefits Group Fund, told the Prospect in a written response. “Add on the fact that the woman must appear in person for two doctors appointments 24 hours apart. When people hear that, they tend to jump on board pretty quickly,” Wilkof said.
The campaign’s efforts seem to be, at least preliminarily, paying off. As The Hill reported, a poll from late July conducted by the University of North Florida suggested that the abortion amendment would be passed, “outperforming Democrats” across the ballot. An August USA Today poll had similar numbers, but with the 60 percent threshold, organizers cannot just win a majority; they have to dominate.
The campaign is fighting against time as the election draws nearer. Convincing people to protect bodily autonomy is less of a lift than simply raising awareness about the fact that the amendment exists at all.
This and Republican interference has saddled Amendment 4 with obstacles. In an unusual move, the Florida secretary of state’s office recently decided to open another review of almost 36,000 petition signatures, claiming it was looking for “fraud,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. As the Miami Herald reported, police officers have been knocking on doors to question petition signatories in an “unprecedented” move.
In addition, controversy abounds regarding the amendment’s financial impact statement, which is required for voter-led initiatives. Political finagling saw DeSantis appoint his own representative to the committee, who edited the language to dubiously raise the possibility of Medicaid-funded abortions and lawsuits against the state. The move has caused concern and dismay among amendment supporters.
This mirrors efforts in other red states by Republicans to frustrate the ability to put abortion questions up for a popular vote.
Regardless, with less than 60 days to the election, the time is now for the coalition to deploy their rhetoric as far and wide as possible and turn uninformed or skeptical voters into Amendment 4 supporters.
As Kendra Vincent, an organizer in Gainesville, told the Prospect: “Abortion isn’t just about reproductive justice and reproductive freedom. It is about freedom in general. If we don’t have bodily autonomy, we are not free.”
