On February 7th, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court began hearing the arguments surrounding the case brought against the pro-abortion amendment brought forth by Planned Parenthood, and they now have a deadline of April 1st to come to a decision.
As we prayerfully await the final decision, which will determine whether or not the extreme pro-abortion amendment will be up for vote on the 2024 ballot in November for the State of Florida, we wanted to update you on where the debates stand. For reference, the Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion states:
“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. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
It’s important to understand the issue at hand is not whether the amendment itself should be enacted or if it’s inherently wrong. Rather, the issue is with the language of the proposed amendment. The Court must answer “is the language of the proposed amendment misleading?” and “will voters have enough information to understand the full effects of the ballot language?”
In particular, the Florida Attorney General’s Office is arguing that the terms “viability” and “healthcare provider” are not well-defined in the amendment.
There were a couple of key moments to not in the court hearings on February 7th. First, those defending the amendment refused to answer the question “when is viability” and instead argued that it’s a widely understood term. Additionally, as the Court debated the term “healthcare provider,” it was brought up that even a tattoo artist could be loosely defined as a healthcare provider under current Florida law.
Also brought into question during these hearings is whether the amendment deals with more than one issue. If the proposal addresses multiple subjects, it should be broken into multiple amendments rather than one large sweeping amendment.
Furthermore, attorneys have noted that the proposed amendment would effectively tie the hands of all three branches of government when it comes to abortion in Florida. It would make it nearly impossible for the state to monitor abortion as it does other healthcare procedures.
In short, those opposing the amendment brought forth strong arguments against its misleading language and other pitfalls. We remain cautiously optimistic about the future of this hearing.
If the amendment gets on the ballot, it will require 60% yes vote in November to go into effect.
Please continue to pray with us as we patiently await the Court’s decision. We don’t put our trust in man but in God alone to work all these things out for our good and His glory.
If you would like to read further about the hearings, here are a couple of resources we recommend:
Florida Right to Life (great resource for keeping up to date on all pro-life legislation news in Florida)
Article: What Happened at the Florida Supreme Court
NBC News
Article: Florida Supreme Court hears arguments over an abortion rights ballot measure
Tampa Bay News
Aricle: Florida justices raise questions over proposed abortion amendment