The 100-Year Life Health Education and Government
More than 57 per cent of Floridians voted to protect the right to abortion. It doesn’t matter. The state’s (unusual) 60 per cent constitutional threshold means that Amendment 4 did not pass, and the state’s current six-week abortion ban continues to stand.
The referendum result has implications far beyond Florida’s borders. Before its six-week ban came into effect in May 2024, Florida was effectively an abortion “haven” for women living in southern states that overwhelmingly have strict post-Roe abortion bans.
As the result was confirmed, prominent national pro-life groups thanked Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, for “protecting babies with beating hearts”. De Santis was heavily criticised and faced legal challenges for his use of state resources to launch a disinformation campaign against the initiative.
Another nine states are also voting on down-ballot abortion measures: as of this morning UK-time New York, Maryland, and Colorado had approved measures to expand or enshrine abortion access, while Missouri became the first state to overturn a near-total abortion ban.
