women’s rights

The police knock on the door. They are investigating a possible fraud, they say. “Were you really the one who signed the petition to put Amendment 4 on the ballot in November?”

The episode, repeated in broad strokes in numerous Florida counties in recent weeks, according to testimonies collected in local media and social networksis part of a desperate campaign by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis against abortion rights. The concerted effort is aimed at derailing a ballot measure in the state that would strike down the current restriction — which limits the procedure to six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant, with no real exceptions — and which he signed last year after the right was repealed at the federal level. If he receives at least 60 percent of the vote, the right would be guaranteed by the state constitution.

The so-called Heartbeat Law was approved by Florida’s Republican-majority legislators in April 2023, with a vote of 70-40, and went into effect on May 1 of this year. It is one of the most restrictive laws in the country, which after the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in 2022 against Roe vs. Wade, the legal precedent that guaranteed access to abortion nationwide, gave the states the power to legislate on the matter. The Heartbeat Law, which is one of the flagships of the popular Governor DeSantis and former candidate in the Republican primaries, only maintains the possibility of having an abortion before the sixth week and only if evidence and documentation are presented to prove that it is a case of rape, incest or human trafficking; if the mother’s health is in danger, two doctors have to certify it, and even in those cases, professionals fear that criminal action will be taken against them. In practice, there is currently no realistic way to legally perform an abortion in Florida.

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The severity of the law generated a strong response from the time it was a bill. And when it was approved, a huge petition drive led by the organization Floridians Protecting Freedom was launched for a petition to put the issue on a referendum in the November 2024 elections. After long months of campaigning, one million signatures were collected, 100,000 more than needed to put a question directly to voters. The signatures were validated for eight months independently and also by the state’s election supervisors. In April, they were finally accepted and ratified by the state Supreme Court, which is close to DeSantis, which appointed five of its seven judges.

Trump supporters argue with Harris supporters at an abortion-focused campaign event in Boynton Beach, Florida.CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH (EFE)

The proposed constitutional amendment going before voters is known as Amendment 4 and states: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion prior to viability or when necessary to protect the health of the patient, as determined by the patient’s health care provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor undergoes an abortion.”

Since then, the mission of Floridians Protecting Freedom and other allied organizations has been campaigning for Amendment 4. They raised $12 million in two months, according to their accounts, and have not stopped knocking on doors and educating voters, explains spokeswoman Lisa Zayas. “We are talking to people about the risks of the ban, because we are already seeing so many women who are being denied their rights when they need them the most… And we see that the majority of citizens support us. This is a nonpartisan initiative that has support across the board among Floridians.” Polls in recent months and weeks show support for abortion rights and the amendment at between 55 and 69 percent, indicating that the majority needed to become law would be achieved.

An examination room at an abortion clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, on April 30.Joe Raedle (Getty Images)

Against this backdrop, in late August the Florida executive and legislature began a series of actions attacking the amendment from different angles. First, on August 21, the Supreme Court agreed to a financial impact statement accompanying the amendment’s ballot text. The statement, substantially longer than the amendment itself, reads as follows: “The proposed amendment would result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births per year in Florida. The increase in abortions could be even greater if the amendment invalidates laws requiring parental consent before minors undergo abortions and laws ensuring that only licensed physicians perform abortions. There is also uncertainty about whether the amendment will force the state to subsidize abortions with public funds. Litigation to resolve these and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to state government and courts that will negatively impact the state budget. An increase in abortions may adversely affect state and local revenue growth over time. Because the fiscal impact of increased abortions on state and local revenues and costs cannot be estimated with precision, the full impact of the proposed amendment is undetermined.”

Lauren Brenzel, director of the campaign in favor of the amendment, accused the sponsors of the financial statement “Our campaign worked hard to ensure that the language in our initiative met constitutional standards, and the State should meet those same standards of clarity and precision so as not to mislead voters. Any financial impact statement must be legally accurate, unambiguous, direct, clear, and transparent. This sham of a process is a reminder to Florida voters that politicians are playing dirty to overcomplicate and politicize a simple administrative solution.”

DeSantis’ next step was the creation of a website by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration in open opposition to Amendment 4. State law prohibits the government from using its authority and funds to influence an election or a citizen’s vote. In response to questions raised by the website, which alleges that the amendment endangers women’s health, DeSantis publicly defended himself. “It’s not electioneering. These are things that can absolutely be done through these public service announcements. And I’m glad they’re doing it.”

Not satisfied with that, the Florida Department of State, also under the governor’s close influence, recalled some 37,000 of the verified signatures a few weeks ago, citing suspicions of fraud. DeSantis has said that petitions “made on behalf of dead people” were being investigated. That’s when home visits began to verify that the signatories had indeed signed the petition, even though they had already been validated and the deadline to challenge the signatures had long since passed. So it’s unclear what the goal is, as it seems legally unlikely that they can remove the amendment from the ballot at this point.

A woman protests against abortion bans on April 13 in Orlando, Florida.Joe Raedle (Getty Images)

Lisa Zayas and the rest of the campaign in favor of the amendment see in all these efforts a campaign of intimidation and designed to torpedo the democratic process, but they do not flinch from their own mission. “Obviously, these actions and the dissemination of disinformation are being responded to, which is pathetic and dramatic.” […] “But we are firm in that we see in all our studies, in all our information, that the majority of citizens support it. We will continue to educate to consolidate that support because we know we can achieve it,” says Zayas. In any case, this Friday, Floridians Protecting Freedom and the American Civil Liberties Association (ACLU) of Florida filed a lawsuit against the “misuse of taxpayers’ money to lie to voters about this amendment.”

Away from the official campaign, the moves have also sparked multiple legal actions in response, with the Supreme Court this week agreeing to expedite a case against Gov. DeSantis and other officials that accuses them of using their official power inappropriately. The plaintiff asked for a ban on “misuse or abuse of their offices and agencies to interfere with the 4th Amendment election.” While the justices could have dismissed the petition, they have asked that the defendants respond to the allegations by the afternoon of Sept. 23.

Local and national leaders at a Harris-Walz campaign event with a focus on the pro-abortion agenda, Sept. 3.CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH (EFE)

All of this could have a broader electoral impact on local elections, for the House of Representatives, the Senate, and even the presidential elections. Indeed, the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, is a resident of Florida and will have to vote for Amendment 4. In recent weeks he has been asked on multiple occasions about his position on the matter and his answers have been inconsistent. First he said he did not support the six-week restriction, only to retract it a few days later. It is not clear whether he will vote for or against Amendment 4, nor what effect this may have on the Florida or national elections.

Since Trump’s arrival in politics, Florida has become a state with a clear Republican majority after years of being one of the most important swing territories. Even so, the times that the right to abortion has been put to referendum since the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 in both conservative and progressive states, the majority of citizens have voted in favor of it. And in this presidential campaign, abortion is one of the strongest issues for the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris. No one dares to say it out loud for now and the polls indicate that it is highly unlikely, but in the midst of a fierce battle that is putting the issue at the center of the debate, perhaps abortion is once again making Florida a disputed territory.