Florida abortion rights measure fails
- Published
A closely watched proposal to restore abortion rights in Florida is on track for defeat, in a significant blow to efforts to expand local protections for the procedure.
The ballot initiative would have allowed abortion until the point of foetal viability or about 24 weeks, but had to meet a threshold of 60% support in order to pass.
Florida was one of 10 states this election where voters were asked to weigh in on abortion rights measures.
The state-level fights come two years after a US Supreme Court ruling that struck down the national right to abortion, prompting many states to introduce bans or severe restrictions on the practice.
With 95% of the votes reported, the Florida amendment was projected to win support from 57% of voters, according to Reuters.
Campaigners in Florida had promoted the amendment as a way to override the law that came into force earlier this year, which banned abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.
In previous elections, initiatives to expand abortion rights have met with success, including in reliably conservative states such as Kansas, and have been credited with helping to mobilise Democratic voters and put pressure on even some Republican politicians to moderate their stance on the issue.
But none of the other contests had to meet such a high bar of support as in Florida.
The proposed amendment was also vociferously opposed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who marshalled state resources to persuade voters to vote “no”.
Florida voter Betsy Linkhorst, a first-time voter, said the result left her "heartbroken, scared and frankly, worried for the future".
"This was such an important opportunity to protect women’s rights and our ability to make decisions over our own bodies," the 18-year-old said.
"The setback feels devastating, and I’m saddened to think of the impact this will have on so many women across the state."
Maria McNally, who voted against the amendment, said she believed that it would have allowed abortions too far into pregnancy.
“I’m happy it failed,” she said.
Mary Ziegler, a law professor at University of California, Davis, said the outcome in Florida appeared coloured in part by the state's unexpectedly strong support for Donald Trump.
She cautioned against reading too much into the result, given the threshold the measure needed to pass.
"You don't want to overstate the significance of what happened in Florida," she said.
In Maryland, where abortion is currently legal, voters approved a measure to enshrine a right to the procedure in the state constitution.
New York also approved an amendment that would bar discrimination due to pregnancy or reproductive health.
Abortion is also on the ballot in states such as Missouri, South Dakota and Arizona, which have laws that bar or curtail access to the procedure.
Most of the initiatives would allow abortion until foetal viability, which is generally considered about 24 weeks, or later only in instances when the health of the pregnant woman is at risk.
Since the 2022 decision to strike down Roe v Wade, 22 states have tightened abortion laws, including 13 where the procedure is banned completely. Others have sharply curtailed access, barring access to abortion after six weeks.
When the dust settles from this election, abortion rights activists will have few remaining untried opportunities to use state voter referendums to protect abortion rights, Ms Ziegler said.
"We may see the states continue to be the centre of the struggle or we may not - I don't think we'll know that until we know who wins the White House," she said.
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