Abortion rights advocates lose fight over ballot’s financial impact statement

The Florida Supreme Court has ruled against abortion rights advocates who were fighting to overturn a controversial financial impact statement appearing under Amendment 4 on the November ballot.

Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis, called the ruling “excellent news.”

“The Supreme Court made a decisive move by ruling the financial impact statement will appear on the ballot for Amendment 4,” she said in a prepared statement. “This ensures voters know the truth about the dangerous and deceptive Amendment 4 — including opening the door for taxpayer-funded abortions, when the baby can feel pain and reinforcing the truth and facts the ACLU authors don’t want voters to know.”

Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the group backing Amendment 4 argued that the financial impact statement was misleading and a dirty political trick to dissuade voters from supporting the initiative. They challenged the statement in court, but with Wednesday’s court ruling, their lawsuit was dismissed.

“Adding a deceptive financial impact statement to deliberately confuse voters is a shameful attempt to hide the fact that Florida law currently bans abortion before many women know they are pregnant with no exceptions for rape, incest or a woman’s health,” Yes on 4 Campaign Director Lauren Brenzel said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

“It’s ‘Yes’ on 4 no matter what because Amendment 4 will provide critical healthcare protections to limit government interference so doctors can do their jobs and provide abortion care to their patients.”

The contest for Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, is expected to be tight and both sides are pushing for any advantage.

Amendment 4 needs at least 60% support in order to pass. One recent poll projected Amendment 4 would pass; another showed it failing. A large number of voters are also undecided.

The financial impact statement partially says: “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 those ensuring only licensed physicians perform abortions. There is also uncertainty about whether the amendment will require the state to subsidize abortions with public funds. Litigation to resolve those and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to the state government.”

A state panel — which included a representative from DeSantis’ Office and a staff member from the Heritage Foundation, the conservative group behind Project 2025 — wrote the statement last month.