Florida’s abortion-rights poll initiative fell wanting passing on Tuesday, leaving in place a six-week abortion ban that has helped limit entry throughout virtually the entire Southern U.S.
The measure’s defeat is a big victory for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who engaged a number of levers of state-sponsored energy to oppose it.
The measure wanted a 60 p.c supermajority to move, the best threshold within the nation.
Florida was one among 10 states voting on abortion-related poll measures Tuesday. All of the others wanted a easy majority to move.
The state beforehand had a 15-week ban, however the six-week ban took impact in Might. Florida’s ban has successfully shut off abortion entry within the South, the place neighboring states already implement near-total abortion bans or extreme restrictions.
Abortion-rights advocates had been hoping to vary that and spent practically $100 million on the hassle.
The modification would have enshrined protections for abortion as much as the purpose of fetal viability (about 24 weeks) into the state structure, stopping the state from passing legal guidelines to “prohibit, penalize, delay, or limit abortion” till that time.
Previous to this yr, abortion poll measures have received in each state that has voted on them because the Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. However the DeSantis administration labored onerous to beat that pattern.
Earlier this yr, the state legal professional normal tried to cease the measure from qualifying for the poll. Florida requires poll measures to bear a overview by the state Supreme Courtroom, and Lawyer Common Ashley Moody (R) unsuccessfully argued the language was deceptive.
This summer season, a Republican-controlled state panel added what supporters mentioned was a deceptive monetary assertion beneath the query, stating that the modification may price the state cash due to lawsuits.
In September, the state company in control of working Florida’s Medicaid program launched an internet site attacking the modification. No less than three public companies have aired tv and radio adverts in opposition to the measure.
The state Division of Well being threatened native tv stations that had run an advert supporting the modification, and a state election police unit visited residents’ houses as a part of a fraud investigation into the signature-gathering course of months after the measure was licensed with virtually 1 million verified signatures.
