Florida’s Abortion Amendment Is Deceptive, by Gates Garcia

By Gates Garcia, First Things, 9 . 25 . 24

Gates Garcia is an investor and philanthropist from Tampa.

On November 5, the people of Florida will vote on whether to amend the state constitution to remove abortion from political contestation. Abortion advocates are pushing Amendment 4 in response to the Heartbeat Protection Act, which was passed by the state legislature in April of 2023 and prohibits abortion after six weeks, with exceptions (such as rape, incest, or risk to the mother’s life). But the amendment, which needs sixty percent of the vote to pass, is written to deceive voters: one stroke of the pen threatens to settle several distinct issues under the guise of protecting abortion up to viability.

Florida voters, like Americans generally, hold varied and complicated beliefs on abortion. According to Pew Research, only nineteen percent of Americans support abortion on demand throughout pregnancy; forty-two percent say abortion should be broadly “legal, [with] some exceptions”; twenty-nine percent say it should be broadly “illegal, [with] some exceptions”; ….

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