What’s next for committee behind Amendment 4 after abortion rights initiative fails?

Amendment 4 rally in Orlando.

Abortion rights advocates say their next move is to lobby state lawmakers to change Florida’s controversial six-week abortion ban after Amendment 4 was defeated in Tuesday’s election.

Amendment 4, which would have enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution, fell short by 3 percentage points. Florida requires 60% approval for a ballot initiative to pass, a bar higher than the rest of the country. Voters in seven of out 10 states with reproductive freedom initiatives on the ballot in Tuesday’s election passed them. Only Florida, South Dakota and Nebraska did not.

“We know that this is not over for a second, not for a minute, not for an hour. We woke up and we started organizing,” said Sarah Parker, Executive Director of Voices of Florida, during a media call Wednesday. “We are already mobilizing. We already have a plan, and we will be strategizing until Legislative Session this year.”

Amendment 4 leaders mentioned Sen. Corey Simon, one of two Republican lawmakers who voted against the six-week abortion ban. Simon was re-elected Tuesday

At a debate, Simon said the state’s previous 15-week ban was “somewhere about right,” although he argued Amendment 4 went “too far” the other direction.

Abortion rights advocates hope he will become one of their allies.

“The vast majority of Americans, even conservative Americans, are against abortion bans. Abortion is health care, and it’s time to repeal these bans,” said Lauren Brenzel, the Campaign Director for Yes on 4.

University of Central Florida political science assistant professor Aubrey Jewett acknowledged the challenge ahead to convince lawmakers to repeal their own six-week ban that Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the loudest voices against Amendment 4, signed last year.

“Now realistically, is the Legislature going to change back? Probably not, right? The argument that 57% of Floridians want it is probably not going to change their minds, but theoretically, they could,” Jewett said.

Under Florida’s current abortion ban, most pregnancies are banned at six weeks, although there are exceptions up to 15 weeks for rape, incest and sex trafficking victims — if they get written documentation, such as a police report or medical report, to prove the crime against them.

Florida also allows abortions to be performed later to save the mother’s life. But pro-Amendment 4 doctors have said the ban creates murky situations and fear among the medical community about when the exception can be applied.