"We're trying to bring awareness to the dangerous deceptions within this amendment …. [We're going to see] common sense safety laws gutted, completely. We're going to see term limits gutted. The term 'viability' is not defined – and there is a lot of confusion among the general populace over that term as well. I've heard some people say they thought viability was at heartbeat and they thought they were supporting a heartbeat bill." Aaron DiPietro, legislative director |
Gov. Ron DeSantis held a town hall discussion Thursday evening in Tampa emphasizing the dangers of a Democrat- and George Soros-funded proposed state constitutional amendment that would (1) undo Florida’s heartbeat bill, and (2) allow taxpayer-funded abortions for any reason until the moment of birth. The latter, he argued, would be allowed under what he describes as vague wording in the proposed amendment.
The governor made it clear where he stands on Amendment 4. “If Amendment 4 passes, it will represent the first constitutional amendment in the history of our state that actually takes away rights from people,” DeSantis said.
Supporting his statement, the governor highlighted four specific groups he contends will lose rights: parents, children, taxpayers, and Florida voters.
- PARENTS: Under Amendment 4, parents do not have to consent to a minor child obtaining an abortion, only notification, which could be after the fact. “Notification is not the same as consent,” DeSantis pointed out.
- CHILDEN: More babies would lose the right to life protections for 99% of elective abortions in healthy pregnancies. DeSantis emphasized that Amendment 4 would allow abortions for pain-capable babies and has no definition of “viability,” thus no limits on late-term abortions even Roe and Casey provided for. “They’re not even trying to be reasonable,” DeSantis said. “They just reject the idea that there should be any protections for life.”
- TAXPAYERS: DeSantis believes the language used in the proposed amendment would result in constitutionally protected state-funded abortions. He also said it would be difficult to challenge legally because a court would likely say that if voters had intended the amendment’s language to be different, they could have included more specific terms.
- VOTERS: Finally, DeSantis argued that even if a voter is pro-choice, the “vast majority” of Americans oppose late-term abortions – and so Amendment 4 is not the solution they should seek. He pointed out that the heartbeat bill is legislation, allowing it to be refined by the state legislature. In contrast, he said, a constitutional amendment would cement terrible precedent without giving the people’s representatives the ability to add definitions to ensure appropriate parameters. For example, the amendment language does not define "viability" or "health care provider." “A massage therapist is a ‘healthcare provider,’” DeSantis said. “It definitely puts women in jeopardy.”
The proposed Amendment 4 is "not what it seems," according to the website VoteNoOn4Florida. |
DeSantis is optimistic that if voters in Florida understand the dangers of Amendment 4, they will vote no. For one thing, he noted that the threshold for a constitutional amendment to pass in Florida is 60%, one of the highest in the nation, which is encouraging for pro-life supporters. And he underscored how the state has registered more Republican voters since he took office in 2018.
“Because the threshold is 60% and we have one million more Republican voters [than in 2018], if we truthfully associate Amendment 4 with Soros and [Kamala] Harris, we will defeat it,” he stated.
But the governor contends still more work is needed to ensure even pro-life Florida voters understand what Amendment 4 is really proposing. He warned voters that the “summary game” – the ballot text that summarizes the language of an issue – is purposefully misleading to voters.
“They do it as misleading as possible to get people who wouldn’t otherwise vote for it,” he offered.
Florida’s Supreme Court was split 4-3 on whether Amendment 4’s summary was misleading. All three dissenting votes were judicial appointments made by Gov. DeSantis.
DeSantis responds to the “viability” language of Amendment 4 and why it’s purposefully vague, undefined, and will lead to pain-capable, healthy babies being aborted late-term.
DeSantis responds to the question: What would you say to someone who is pro-choice about this Amendment?
8/19/2024 - Comments from Aaron DiPietro added.
