Florida Republicans say abortion ballot question more ‘extreme’ than their 6-week ban

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Florida is entering a unique period for pregnant women after a set of state Supreme Court decisions dropped late afternoon Monday both cleared the way for a six-week ban on abortions and opened the door for broad access to the procedure come November.

From May until November, a Floridian who needs an abortion just six weeks into their pregnancy will be largely without options. (There are exceptions until 15 weeks for rape, incest and when their life is at risk.) But after November, if voters approve a constitutional amendment on the ballot, that same Floridian who needs an abortion would likely be able to get one.

Only, what would the new limit be?

While the ballot language approved Monday points to “viability” as the point at which abortions become off-limits — typically considered 24 weeks — Republicans are arguing that that proposed constitutional amendment would allow pregnant mothers to receive an abortion up until birth.

Who’s right?

Gov. Ron DeSantis Deputy Press Secretary Julia Friedland said in a statement Monday that the “language hides the amendment’s true purpose of mandating that abortions be permitted up to the time of birth.”

Lauren Brenzel, the campaign director for Floridians Protecting Freedom, which led the initiative to get abortion access on the ballot called Friedland and other Republicans’ position that the amendment language would allow the procedure until birth “an absolute lie.”

She said the implied scenario wherein a mother is dying while her child is being born, prompting a doctor to perform the abortion procedure “is not a medically accurate situation.”

“It’s not something that occurs,” Brenzel said. “You don’t have abortion until the moment of birth. It doesn’t make sense.”

Brenzel said that women who have abortions later in their pregnancy are doing it “in some of the most difficult circumstances” such as when they “find out that their child would be born with a condition that’s incompatible with life… The idea that we would try to turn these women into villains is absolutely unconscionable.”

Brenzel said the ballot language preserves Florida law from before the state passed its 15-week ban in 2022 by requiring a parent to be notified before a minor has an abortion.

“Some have said that our language is actually not extreme enough,” Brenzel said. “What we have is language that mirrors what Floridians want the most, which is some reasonable restrictions on abortion access, but a limit to how much politicians can intervene.”

Abortions don’t really happen at birth, according to the non-partisan, non-profit health policy organization KFF.

“Abortions at or after 21 weeks are uncommon and represent 1% of all abortions in the U.S. The procedures are expensive and often require travel and lost wages,” KFF writes in a policy brief about late-term abortion on its website. “They normally require treatment over multiple days and are only performed by a subset of all abortion providers.”

Still, Florida Republicans are going to be making the case to centrist voters this summer that the ballot language is further from their values than the six-week ban, said House Speaker Paul Renner on Monday during a virtual press conference after the court rulings.

“This amendment goes far far beyond where most Floridians would land on the issue and is extreme in its scope,” said Renner, a Palm Coast Republican.

He added later in a statement: “We are confident that when the people of Florida learn what this amendment does, they will vote NO.”

What’s the amendment say?

Here is the summary language that will appear before voters in November:

“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. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”

Sen. Erin Grall, a Vero-Beach Republican who sponsored both Florida’s 15-week ban in 2022 that was upheld Monday and the six-week ban in 2023 that will soon go into effect, said during the press conference Monday that the phrase “before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health,” was “vague” and “leaves the door wide open” for interpretation.

“Health is not defined in the ballot amendment,” said Grall. “Health could be viewed to be a headache or a stomach ache.”

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, a Tampa Democrat, called the Republican messaging “ludicrous” in a statement late Monday night.

“These extremist politicians know that this amendment is broadly popular, and fear is the only weapon they have right now,” Driskell said.

Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Broward County Democrat, said Republicans in control of the Florida Legislature were “out of touch” with voters on abortion.

She said she went into conservative strongholds like Naples last summer, and collected signatures for the ballot initiative “in droves from Republicans who fought for these rights, who became Republicans and still believe in this language, believe in this cause.”

Book added: “The generations that have won these rights have lost them in their lifetime and are angry about it.”