What people are saying about Supreme Court letting voters decide abortion amendment

Reaction from across the political spectrum was swift and intense Monday after the Florida Supreme Court released two momentous decisions related to abortion and placed Florida at center stage in an election-year national debate over when the procedure is legal.

The justices upheld a 15-week ban – that itself triggers a six-week ban in 30 days – but also cleared the "Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion" for the November statewide ballot, heightening interest in this year’s election, when all the seats for the Florida House of Representatives are on the ballot.

"This November, Floridians will be faced with the most deceptive and dangerous ballot question in our state's history," said Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, who had sponsored the six-week ban.

Abortion-rights supporters acknowledged the setback of having the 15-week ban upheld and then embraced the opportunity the ballot initiative provides to organize voters.

"Today's rulings prove exactly what is at stake at the ballot box," Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried said in a statement. "Florida is now home to one of the strictest abortion bans in the country – a ban so extreme that most women won't even know they're pregnant before they pass the cutoff date.

Here’s a look at reactions and analysis from politicians, activists and others from today’s decision.

Amendment 4 and abortion ban to collide in November

The Center for Reproductive Rights released a statement finding it devastating that the Florida Supreme Court reinterpreted the Florida Constitution to permit an abortion ban. Nancy Northup, CEO for the Center, said of the two rulings, the Court got one of the rulings “terribly wrong and one exactly right.”

While the justices dismantled a long-standing right to abortion, Northup said, “thankfully Florida voters will have the chance to get that right back this November.” Northup said voters across the country have made it clear they believe “abortion is a fundamental right.”

A Divide in the Catholic Church

Catholics for Choice issued a statement celebrating the Court’s decision to green light the Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion and also issued a challenge to Catholic bishops.

The group’s president, Jamie Manson, said the loudest and most vocal opponents to the citizen imitative has been the Catholic bishops “who spend millions of parishioners' hard-earned dollars fighting the democratic process.”

Manson and Catholics for Choice Board of Directors said they are committed to pushing back over the next seven months against the campaign to defeat Amendment 4.

“As a Catholic, I support an individual’s right to make conscience-informed decisions on voting, on reproductive healthcare, and in all morally complex situations,” said Gloria Romero-Roses, a board member from Miami-Dade County.

Amendment 4 expectations

Political observers say reproductive rights galvanize voters and the issue has the potential to drive them to the polls, resulting in higher turnout in November when, for instance, all the seats in the Florida House will be on the ballot. “It ups the importance of the election,” said Nova Southeastern University political scientist Charles Zelden.

Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book applauded the decision to move the ballot initiative forward. She released a statement on the one issue "Democrats, Republicans, and Independents agree: our private medical decisions are none of the government's business."

A University of North Florida poll found 62% support among voters statewide for what will be Amendment 4 in November – with 53% support among Republicans, 58% among no-party affiliates, and 77% for Democrats.

And while Fried and others have appeared confident the measure will pass, House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa said abortion rights supporters need to show up at the polls in November.

Biden Harris campaign say abortion now front and center in Florida

The Biden-Harris campaign released a statement saying abortion rights will be front and center in Florida this election cycle.

A statement from Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who is managing the president's reelection campaign, said the decision to uphold the 15-week ban with a citizen initiative on the ballot provides a Florida opening for Biden.

Rodrigues said the Biden campaign will highlight how former President Donald Trump, Sen. Rick Scott, and Gov. Ron DeSantis paved the way for what will be a six-week ban, leaving abortion inaccessible in the Southeast.

"With an abortion amendment officially on the ballot this November in Florida, President Biden and Vice President Harris ... will help mobilize and expand the electorate in the state, given the overwhelming majority of Floridians support abortion rights."

A battle of extremes

Driskell said extremists in the Florida Legislature approved a six-week ban that goes into effect in May, leaving young women in Florida today "with fewer rights than their grandmothers had."

"This ruling shows how critical it is that Floridians pass Amendment 4 this November," Driskell said. "We must take the power away from out-of-touch extremist politicians and claim our rights ourselves come November."

Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, led the effort in the House to restrict abortion access and said Amendment 4 supporters do not represent the will of most Floridians. She added that the amendment's proponents are the extremists.

"This amendment rolls us back to the dark ages before advancements in science and medicine, before Roe v. Wade. It is broad. It is far reaching, it is dangerous. It is wrong for Florida," Persons-Mulicka said.

A split decision

Activists on both the left and right said they plan to fight it out until Nov. 5.

Christian Family Coalition Florida founder Anthony Verdugo applauded the decision to uphold the 15-week ban but criticized the decision to greenlight what he called a radical ballot measure that could wipe out "all protection for the unborn."

"We've been preparing for this battle for several months now," Verdugo said. "There's no question we're in in the fight of our lives and it will take everything we've got to defeat this."

The group Reproductive Freedom for All called the decision to uphold the 15-week ban devastating news and committed to working in Florida to elect "champions to protect the right to abortion."

"It's a good thing the Florida Supreme Court let the ballot initiative go before voters because voters will need to head to the polls to undo the damage the court is causing with its decision to allow an extreme abortion ban to go into effect," said Mimi Timmaraju, Reproductive Freedom's CEO.

House Speaker Paul Renner likes where Florida is on abortion

Talking to reporters after the court released the decisions, House Speaker Paul Renner said he believes once the public is educated about the amendment it will see that it is extreme in scope and that Republicans should not fear having to run with it on the ballot.

"It is the product of abortion rights activists ... and it goes well beyond where most Floridians will find themselves, including Floridians who would consider themselves pro-choice," Renner said.

Renner said he other states have more restrictive abortion regulations and he thinks most Floridians agree with the regulations the Legislature has approved.

"What Florida hasn't done is an outright ban on abortion with no exceptions," Renner said.

"We begin when a child has a heartbeat and then we also have broad exceptions for rape, incest, human trafficking, the life of the mother, fetal abnormalities. And so it is a compromise that addresses where I think many Floridians are. And it is a good place for us to land."

Campus condoms and voting

The Florida Future Leaders PAC, a Democratic-affiliated group on state college and university campuses announced they will distribute thousands of condoms emblazoned with "protect abortion rights" as part of a statewide voter registration drive.

Jayden D'Onofrio, a Tallahassee Community College freshman, said the U.S. Supreme Court raised the possibility of rolling back the use of contraception with the Dobbs decision so the student PAC will use condoms to organize the youth vote.

"The right to choice being on the ballot will be vital to getting a lot of young people out to vote. And I think young people understand the differences between Democrats and Republicans on young people, and people in general, having a right to bodily autonomy," D'onfrio said.

Abortion initiatives track record

How does the Supreme Court's decision factor into the national picture?

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturned 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and enabled states to set their own regulations, legislatures in 14 states have enforced total bans on abortion.

At the same time, voters in seven states have approved initiatives protecting access, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Court says voters in November decide legal limits to abortion