Abortion-rights backers ‘confident’ they have signatures to make 2024 ballot

Skyler Swisher, Orlando Sentinel
·2 min read
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Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights say they have hit a major milestone needed to get the issue before Florida voters in next year’s election.

Floridians Protecting Freedom reported Tuesday it will submit 1.4 million signatures to election supervisors by the end of the year, well above the nearly 900,000 needed to make the ballot.

“We’re confident we’re going to submit enough petitions to get on the ballot,” said campaign director Lauren Brenzel.

If it makes the ballot, the amendment must win at least 60% of the vote to secure passage.

The state has until Feb. 1 to verify the signatures to ensure they come from eligible voters and meet other requirements. As of Tuesday, the state reported that 753,762 of the required 891,523 signatures had been verified.

Abortion rights supporters are making a final push for outstanding petitions to be signed and submitted by Friday.

The ballot initiative’s summary states in part, “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 the amendment meets the signature requirement, it will need to clear another hurdle to get on the ballot.

The Florida Supreme Court, which is dominated by conservative justices, must approve the ballot initiative’s language. The high court is tasked with evaluating proposed citizen ballot initiatives to determine if the language is clear, won’t mislead voters and deals with a single subject.

Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody has argued that the ballot summary will confuse voters because it doesn’t define the term “viability.” Supporters say the term has a “well-understood, commonly accepted meaning” as “the point at which a fetus could survive outside the womb.”

Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. That law will take effect if the Supreme Court upholds a 15-week abortion ban passed last year.

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