On the abortion front, Florida faces a clash between potential ballot proposals in 2024 [View all]
On the abortion front, Florida faces a clash between potential ballot proposals in 2024
Last weekend in Miami Beach, organizers behind a constitutional amendment protecting abortion access on next years ballot say theyve gathered more than 420,000 petitions and raised more than $4.7 million in just two months but opponents are trying to slow their momentum.
While its received little media attention, a group called Protect Human Life Florida is working on their own effort to collect signatures for what they are calling the Human Life Protection Amendment, setting up a potential clash on abortion proposals on the November ballot in 2024.
The Protect Human Life constitutional amendment would recognize the God-given right to life of the preborn individual and define preborn individual as a preborn human person at any stage of development. It also affirms that life-saving procedures to save the life of the mother shall not be construed as a violation when accompanied by reasonable steps to save the life of the preborn individual. It would be added to the Declaration of Rights under Article 1 of the Florida Constitution.
This is an initiative to amend the Florida Constitution to recognize the right to life of the pre-born, who are the most victimized and vulnerable people group in our state, said Katy Harvey, a volunteer with Protect Human Life Florida, while speaking to the Central Pinellas Republican Club on Thursday afternoon. She described the group as a grassroots, Christian pro-life organization.
Harvey said that while her organization celebrated the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court had banned a federal right to abortion last year, anti-abortion activists in Florida have no time to rest because Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law banning abortions in Florida after 15 weeks of pregnancy in 2022.
Abortions have only increased in the past year in Florida, in part because surrounding states have completely banned abortion in the past year. The Florida Legislature also passed a six-week abortion ban this spring, and DeSantis signed it into law. However, the measure is not in effect until the Florida Supreme Court deals with the 15-week ban, with oral arguments coming up this September.