Supporters of the ballot proposal to enshrine the right to abortion in the Florida Constitution hold signs outside of the Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)Gov. Ron DeSantis said he does not know whose idea it was for a state agency to publish a webpage attacking Amendment 4, the proposed abortion-right amendment on the November ballot, but he also insists the page is entirely accurate.
“It’s not an anti-Amendment 4,” DeSantis declared during a news conference Tuesday of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s page. “What it is, it’s providing information about what Florida law is and the resources that are available under that law.”
The webpage states: “Current Florida Law Protects Women, Amendment 4 Threatens Women’s Safety,” and “DON’T LET THE FEARMONGERS LIE TO YOU.” The page goes on to say that the terms in the amendment are “open-ended and arbitrary” and has a “Here’s the Truth” section.
DeSantis said the website is “100% accurate” and that it “is not weighing in on a specific amendment.”
The Florida Democratic Party has threatened to sue over the webpage, and a Lake Worth attorney appealed to the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday to order the page taken down.
The governor spoke during a news conference in which he announced rural infrastructure investments in Lake City, also criticizing proposed Amendment 3 to legalize recreational marijuana use by Floridians at least 21 years old.
DeSantis said he thinks people benefit from medical marijuana but took aim at Trulieve, the state’s largest marijuana company, for spending more than $60 million in attempt to earn more than 60% voter support for the amendment.
“Are they just doing that because they want to be good citizens and participate in the process? No, they’re doing it because they’re hot-wiring the amendment so that they can profit from it,” DeSantis said.
“It’s not true legalization if you can’t even grow it in your backyard,” he added.
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Defining who can perform abortions
The governor repeated earlier comments taking aim at the way Amendment 4 was written — many of which the webpage repeats. For example, the amendment would allow “healthcare providers” to perform an abortion. DeSantis insisted that without specifying a “physician” perform the procedure, bad actors would take advantage.
“Now that maybe you just glance at it, that’s a huge, huge change,” DeSantis said. “That is going to mean you don’t even have to have a medical license to be able to be green-lighting late term abortions all the way up to the moment of birth. That’s insane. I don’t think any other state has done that. That’s in that amendment.”
Actually, the amendment restricts state interference in abortion through viability, defined since Roe v. Wade as the moment the child can survive outside the womb, at around 24 weeks’ gestation. Presumably, state regulation would be allowed after that, as it was under Roe.
It says: “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.”
DeSantis maintained that the amendment could be tied up in legal battles for decades, if it passes.
“There’s going to be people that are going to have interpretations that may be different, but how do they know? It’s not defined.” DeSantis said.
Rebuttal planned
Florida Protecting Freedom, the group behind the proposed amendment, announced plans for a news conference on Wednesday to address DeSantis’ claims. In advertisement Tuesday, the group made its case.
“Before many women know they’re pregnant. Before their first appointment. Before a doctor can see anything on an ultrasound. This is when government in Florida has banned abortion. An extreme ban with no real exceptions. Not for her health. Not even for rape,” the ad says.
The governor said supporters of the amendment are lying about a there being no exceptions in state law. The statute permits abortions after six weeks only if there is a fatal fetal diagnosis, to save the life of the mother, or for victims of rape, incest, or human trafficking.
However, two doctors have to agree about any health risk, and patients must produce evidence such as a police report that they were victims of a crime. Additionally, doctors complain that regulations governing health exceptions don’t cover all of the potential risks faced by pregnant people.
DeSantis complained that patients would be taken advantage of by non-physician health care providers looking to make money if the abortion-rights amendment passes.
“This amendment were to be enacted, you would absolutely have people coming to Florida for this purpose,” DeSantis said. “And if people could make money, non-physicians could make money to be involved, they will do that.”
The AHCA webpage states, “We must keep Florida from becoming an abortion tourism destination state.”
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