Florida Supreme Court rules abortion rights will appear on Florida’s ballot

Abortion rights will be on the Florida ballot in November.

The Florida Supreme Court has approved ballot language for a proposed constitutional amendment. The measure will appear as Amendment 4 on the ballot.

Of note, the court on the same day it approved the ballot language also upheld a state law barring most abortions 15 weeks into pregnancy, and then also triggered a new state law that, beginning in 30 days, will bar most abortions six weeks into a term.

“We conclude that the proposed amendment before us embraces but one subject—limiting government interference with abortion—and matter directly connected therewith,” reads a majority opinion.

But the matter closely divided the court, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a majority of members. Ultimately, four justices supported the majority opinion, and three others dissented.

Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the citizen petition effort, in January surpassed the threshold for valid signatures to qualify the measure for the 2024 ballot.

As written, the amendment would prohibit any law limiting the ability to obtain an abortion before fetal viability — generally between 20 and 25 weeks into a term — or if an abortion is “necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s health care provider.”

That would effectively restore abortion rights to the same state they were before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.

Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz, a DeSantis appointee, wrote in his own opinion that the citizen initiative was appropriate matter to put on the statewide ballot.

“The proposed amendment would constitutionalize restrictions on the people’s authority to use law to protect an entire class of human beings from private harm. It would cast into doubt the people’s authority even to enact protections that are prudent, compassionate, and mindful of the complexities involved,” he wrote. “Under our system of government, it is up to the voters—not this Court—to decide whether such a rule is consistent with the deepest commitments of our political community.”

Justices Charles Canady, an appointee of then-Republican former Gov. Charlie Crist, and John Couriel, a DeSantis appointee, both concurred with Muñiz. Justice Jorge LaBarga, a Crist appointee, did not sign onto that opinion but agreed with the majority opinion allowing the measure on the ballot.

The issue now will be put in front of voters. In order for a constitutional amendment to pass, at least 60% of voters who weigh in on the question in November must vote “yes.”

Attorney General Ashley Moody argued against allowing the measure on the ballot, saying the language set to appear on the ballot is misleading.

The following language will appear as the ballot summary: “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.”

Moody argued the term “viability” could cover a wide period of time in a pregnancy and could mislead some voters.

That argument carried weight with nearly half the justices on the court. Justice Renetha Francis, another DeSantis appointee, said the language of the proposal is in fact so vague it could leave abortion more unregulated than it was when Roe still remained the law of the land.

“The summary hides the ball as to the chief purpose of the proposed amendment: which, ultimately, is to—for the first time in Florida history—grant an almost unrestricted right to abortion,” she wrote in a dissenting opinion.

Justices Meredith Sasso and Jamie Grosshans, both DeSantis appointees as well, also penned or signed dissents.

“The summary does not give the voter any clarity on the decision they must actually make or reveal the amendment’s chief purpose,” Grosshans wrote. “Instead, it misleads by omission and fails to convey the breadth of what the amendment actually accomplishes—to enshrine broad, undefined terms in our constitution that will lead to decades of litigation.”

Last year, the GOP-dominated Legislature approved a measure banning most abortions after six weeks of gestation. That limit had been on hold, pending a Florida Supreme Court ruling over a ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy passed in Florida in 2022. Justices also on Monday upheld the state legislation, triggering the more restrictive ban in 30 days.

Of note, Democrats are also counting on the ballot measure boosting turnout in November.