Gabrielle Russon
Gov. Ron DeSantis continued attacking Florida’s abortion rights initiative Tuesday as he repeated previous claims that the political committee behind Amendment 4 is lying in commercials and warned that if voters approve the measure, abortions will be allowed right up to birth.
DeSantis, who is using his official capacity to fight against the ballot initiative in what critics say has been an unprecedented war using state resources, spoke at a Jacksonville rally for the second straight day with Florida Physicians Against Amendment 4, a group of doctors who oppose abortion rights.
He is traveling around the state with the group. The Governor joined them at a Miami rally Monday and is scheduled to go to a Winter Garden church on Tuesday afternoon.
“I think people should know the truth about what is at stake here,” DeSantis said. “Amendment 4, for the way it’s deceptively crafted, would effectively mean no limits.”
Florida lawmakers passed a six-week abortion ban that went into effect in May. Abortion rights advocates call it one of the most radical abortion bans in the country.
DeSantis urged voters to reject Amendment 4, which he says would swing the law in the opposite direction to another extreme.
“Regardless of your position on right to life, it’s just really, really bad policy, and it’s doubly bad to put that in a constitution, which you’re never going to be able to change,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “These things are permanent and override any statute.”
Amendment 4 seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and would limit government interference on abortion before viability — which is considered about 24 weeks — or to save the mother’s life.
The ballot question states, “This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
Reproductive freedom advocates say most women don’t know they are pregnant by six weeks. Victims of rape, incest and sex trafficking can get the medical procedure done within 15 weeks if they get the proper documentation, like a police report or medical report, to prove they are victims of a crime.
Advocates say some women who are miscarrying can’t get access to care, as doctors are scared to treat them.
DeSantis denied that Florida’s abortion ban is preventing women from getting help and argued the exceptions are straightforward.
“It would be ridiculous to have a law that did not provide physicians with the ability to treat people and save lives, and so Florida law is very clear,” DeSantis argued.
DeSantis said Amendment 4 “can green light an abortion up to the moment of birth. … That is just nuts.”
Amendment 4 leaders argue women carrying unborn children with fatal medical issues need access to abortions.
“The idea that any woman would electively seek an abortion late in her pregnancy is disgusting,” said Lauren Brenzel, a spokeswoman for the political committee that helped lead the effort to get abortion rights on the ballot, last month.
DeSantis has deployed a state agency’s website to campaign against Amendment 4 and his attorneys to threaten TV stations for playing pro-abortion rights commercials.
“The other thing this amendment would ultimately lead to is a hit against taxpayers,” DeSantis said. “If it passes, you are absolutely going to see that push right through the courts where they are going to demand that taxpayers fund these abortions.”
9 comments
Billy Rotberg
October 22, 2024 at 1:30 pm
Abortion is good for the environment. Less people, less carbon footprints.
Marian
October 23, 2024 at 2:58 am
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Joe
October 22, 2024 at 1:57 pm
This habitual liar thinks he’s qualified to root out deception in Florida? LOL sure thing, Tiny D.
Cheesy Floridian
October 22, 2024 at 2:00 pm
He lies and lies. And he says he’s a man of God. Vote yes on 4!
Ocean Joe
October 22, 2024 at 2:01 pm
“Regardless of your position on right to life, it’s just really, really bad policy, and it’s doubly bad to put that in a constitution, which you’re never going to be able to change,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “These things are permanent and override any statute.”
EXACTLY. So in Florida, where we have a gerrymandered legislature and governor that always puts special interests first, and ignore public wishes, a constitutional amendment is the only way the public will can be heard.
In other words, there would be no constitutional amendment on abortion if the governor and his lapdogs had left it alone instead of pushing through a draconian Project 2025 style gotcha at night.
There have been all kinds of amendments because we have an unresponsive state government. And the effort to make school boards partisan is just one more example of going too far.
PeterH
October 22, 2024 at 5:46 pm
Attached to this posting is a link to an article from the Washington Post that tells the story of a rural Idaho 13 year girl whose family and State government failed at every turn.
The government is unqualified to make decisions regarding women’s healthcare.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/10/21/idaho-consent-law-teens-health-care/
Victoria Olson
October 22, 2024 at 8:44 pm
For a man who has a law degree has the behavior of a man who acts as a Dictator. His propaganda tour against the abortion Amendment is all PROPAGANDA LIES. Sadly most people can’t be bothered to learn the TRUTH. Truth Matters
Rita Joseph
October 22, 2024 at 9:09 pm
Abortion is reproductive violence not a “reproductive right.”
I think we need to ditch the term “reproductive rights” and replace it with “safety rights during pregnancy for both mothers and babies.” We need to proclaim and to uphold these joint mother-and-child rights to protection during pregnancy.
Freedom from deliberate harm is a fundamental right for both mothers and their little ones during pregnancy.
It should never be forgotten that elective abortion is the only medical procedure that involves two patients that has for its express purpose the direct killing of one of the patients.
Every procured abortion is an act of violence, albeit in a medical setting.
Lethal violence against children is never “necessary.” Violence against children is preventable. Before as well as after birth, children should not receive less protection than adults.
Their mothers’ personal and social needs can and should be met by non-violent means.
Josh Green
October 22, 2024 at 11:00 pm
Stupidest thing i’ve read in a long time.