Florida’s Abortion Amendment Has Staggering Implications
Early voting has begun in Florida, and the most consequential ballot measure by far is Amendment 4. Florida currently protects babies from the time their heartbeats can be detected, with exceptions for rape, incest, and medical necessity. The proposed Amendment 4 to Florida’s state constitution would undo the heartbeat law — and go much further.
The full text of Amendment 4, which does not define any of its terms, states:
Limiting government interference with abortion. Except as provided in Article X, Section 22, 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.
If Amendment 4 passes, a flurry of lawsuits will follow, all aimed at destroying more human lives and padding abortionists’ bottom line. As a Florida litigation attorney myself, I see how that one sentence would have a tremendous impact:
- Minors will no longer have to obtain parental consent for an abortion. Florida will only be left with the weaker requirement of parental notification. (That is the reference to Article X, Section 22.)
- The experience of other states tells us that pro-abortion groups like the ACLU will immediately sue to mandate taxpayer funding of abortion, causing thousands of additional deaths.
- Any laws which have the effect of delaying abortion would be struck down. Waiting periods would obviously be gone. So would the informed consent that is supposed to precede them, along with ultrasounds to detect ectopic pregnancy and confirm gestational age. Local zoning regulations that prevent the erection of an abortion facility in a particular neighborhood would be challenged in court. (Never mind if those regulations also prevent the construction of nonviolent clinics; Amendment 4 gives abortion special treatment.) A woman who runs a stop sign on her way to an abortion appointment could use Amendment 4 to argue her way out of a traffic ticket!
- “The patient’s healthcare provider” is undefined, but it is definitely broader than “physician.” Everyone from nurses to chiropractors will be claiming a right to perform abortions. Even a complete stranger trafficking abortion drugs from overseas could arguably be a “healthcare provider.”
- And if a healthcare provider refuses to do an abortion? Well, any state protection of that provider’s conscience rights creates a “delay,” running afoul of Amendment 4.
Fellow Florida attorney Lisa Rask invited me to discuss these implications, and others, on a podcast. Joining us was Jack Champagne of Rehumanize International, who earned his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Listen to our legal webinar here. [Editor’s note: This is rough audio; we are working on a better version with slides.]
Please share this with your friends and family in Florida. Although we are encouraged by polls which indicate that Amendment 4 is headed toward defeat, we cannot be complacent. Human lives are at stake!
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