Jesse Scheckner
A new ad supporting the Amendment 4 campaign to protect abortion access in the Florida Constitution features a Tampa mother who didn’t want to avail herself of the procedure, but says she had to.
Identified only as “Caroline” in the 30-second spot, she tells an agonizing story of doctors finding a brain tumor on her MRI as she was pregnant with her second child.
“My first thought was, ‘Am I going to be able to see my daughter again?’” she says in the ad.
“The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby. I would lose my life. And my daughter would lose her mom. Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine. Amendment 4 is going to protect women like me. We have to vote ‘yes.’”
The new ad began airing in popular TV markets across Florida and is the first funded by Floridians Protecting Freedom, the political committee behind the Amendment 4 initiative, to feature an abortion patient.
It’s part of the organization’s multimillion-dollar ad campaign to build support for the ballot measure and follows English- and Spanish-language TV spots featuring doctors of gynecology and obstetrics.
Amendment 4 needs 60% voter support to pass. Determined to prevent that from happening is Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose Florida Freedom Fund is financing counterprogramming, and apparatuses under the Governor’s sway like the state Agency for Health Care Administration, whose tax-funded anti-abortion messaging online has attracted multiple lawsuits.
There’s also Created Equal, a national group that has taken out ad space in Florida this month to claim that Amendment 4 will allow late-term abortions.
Polls show varying enthusiasm for the measure. One published this week found less than half of likely voters statewide intend to vote “yes” on Amendment 4, while 29% said they firmly oppose it.
An Emerson College survey last month found 55% voter support, with 26% opposition. Another in July by the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab showed 69% of likely voters favor Amendment 4.
The General Election is on Nov. 5.
2 comments
Cubrey Porter
October 1, 2024 at 6:03 pm
“Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine.”
This statement is a lie.
Here is the truth: “Florida’s six-week abortion ban includes exceptions for some vulnerable communities and when a mother or fetus’ life is in danger.” –Stephanie Colombini, WUSF Health News Florida, April 30, 2024.
jerry
October 1, 2024 at 7:13 pm
Here’s the problem: what, exactly, does “mother’s life in danger” mean specifically? What if she’s doing OK at this moment, but she almost certainly will not be doing OK at some time in the future? Is her life in danger or not? Before you answer, remember that your practice and freedom will be forfeit if you call it wrong.