Florida Dems want the fight to pass the abortion rights amendment to be intergenerational
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried criticizes Repubican lawmakers during a gathering outside the federal court house in Tallahassee on April 30, 2024. (Photo by Jackie Llanos)
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Laurie Plotnick recalled marching in rallies and signing petitions advocating for access to legal and safe abortions. Roe v. Wade was decided when she had just graduated college. In her 70s, she is taking on that fight again as president of the Democratic Senior Caucus of Florida.
During a Florida Democratic Party press conference Monday morning, leaders within the party shared their experiences as mothers and daughters to emphasize the importance of working across generational divides to enshrine abortion access in Florida’s constitution come November.
“I am the proud mother to a beautiful daughter, an aunt to nieces and grandnieces who grew up in Florida. And since Florida’s extreme abortion ban took effect on May 1, they will grow up with fewer rights than I had,” Plotnick said. “If any of the women in my family want to have children or more children, they are at risk of being denied health care if God forbid anything goes wrong during their pregnancy. Women have won and lost rights throughout history, and we now have another chance to win.”
She continued: “Yesterday, on Mother’s Day, I am reminded of my obligation to my child and the next generation. Senior women must rejoin the fight just as we did in 1973 and mobilize once again to take back our rights and protect reproductive freedom for all generations to come.”
But for abortion access to be restored to the point of viability and beyond the current six-week ban, 60% of voters will have to vote yes on Amendment 4 on Nov.5. With six months left until the election, Democrats are pitching the pro-abortion amendment as an issue that voters of all parties can get behind but that will require people from all kinds of backgrounds to promote.
“We know the culture of our district, we have to do our job as well. We have to use social media; we have to talk with our constituents; we have to use our native language,” said Orange County Rep. Johanna López. “Latinos need to move for Amendment 4, and I think that even using our native languages, Spanish, Creole, we have to use all of those resources and also stay in contact with organizations like Planned Parenthood to enforce being bilingual. … The messaging will be very, very important because this is against democracy. This is not even this is not related to party affiliation.”
In a recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the amendment had a 61% approval rate, with 29% opposed and 10% undecided.
Florida Dems chair Nikki Fried said the party plans to have Democratic challengers in all the state legislature seats that are up for grabs.
“We’re living under a six-week abortion ban. I never in my entire life would have thought that we’d be sitting in this moment, but here we are,” Fried said. “So yes, women are coming up and stepping up to the plate. Men who are supporting these women want to run for office. So, we are on track to fill every seat. That is still our goal, and I do believe that we will get there before the deadline next month.”
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