Between music, blue skies and the smell of sunscreen, the mood was rather cheerful last Saturday at the corner of Dale Mabry and Fletcher avenues in Carrollwood, north of Tampa. And despite the stifling heat of this last summer morning, Tami Rothstein, in her early sixties, was not going to miss the big “sign rally” organized there by a group of women from the Hillsborough County Democratic Party.
“This is not a protest, this is an information campaign,” she said as she strode purposefully from her car to the street, where about a dozen people had already arrived. Ahead of schedule. “We need to raise awareness that Amendment 4 will be on the ballot in a few weeks. It’s important. It’s about women’s rights and freedoms.”
On November 5, Florida will not only go to the polls to decide the next occupant of the White House. Voters will also be asked to vote on a referendum question calling for “limiting government intervention in the area of abortion.” Amendment 4, as it is called, proposes that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion” before the viability of the fetus “or when necessary to protect the health of a patient.”
The proposed measure has become a social issue since the ultra-conservative local government, led by Republican Ron DeSantis, passed a law banning abortion in this southern state after six weeks, which is often before a woman or her doctor is certain of a pregnancy. In effect since 1er Last May, the ban is now in the crosshairs of Democrats, who are counting on the attractiveness of Amendment 4 among women, young people and progressives to repeal a law they consider radical. And in the process, increase the support of Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, in Florida.
Indeed, 63% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal, according to the Pew Research Center. Since 2022, the defense of this right has favored the candidacies of Democrats in several states for governors, senators and representatives, at the expense of Republicans, including several supported by Donald Trump.
“Abortion is not a crime: it’s health care and it’s a matter of choice that government and elected officials, regardless of their political affiliation, have no business getting involved in,” Patty Cohn, president of the local Democratic Party women’s club, said in an interview. “We’re hopeful that Amendment 4 will boost voter turnout, which could benefit Democrats. And we’re going to work tirelessly between now and November 5 to mobilize voters.”
A response through the ballot box
Florida joined this year a group of 10 American states that, in addition to the presidential election next November, are preparing to hold a referendum on the protection of the right to abortion. This right was jeopardized in 2022 by a decision of the Supreme Court in which the ultra-conservative majority built under the presidency of Donald Trump invalidated the Roe v. Wade ruling, which, since 1973, ensured the legality of the intervention nationwide.
As a result, women in 22 states now live in environments where abortion is virtually impossible, including in many cases of incest or rape. Doctors who perform abortions have also been put on the spot by Republican governments in those states, now facing prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life for violating the new restrictive rules. This includes helping a patient whose life could be in danger if a complication occurs during a miscarriage or during pregnancy.
The thing cost the lives of two women in Georgia just a few days ago, Kamala Harris denounced Friday at a political rally in Atlanta. One of them was 28 years old, the other 41 years old.
“And those are just the stories we know here in Georgia,” she said, recalling that these women “died because of the abortion ban” made possible by Donald Trump.
“If re-elected president, Donald Trump will go further. We know what we are facing and we have to talk about these issues,” added the Democrat who, since her arrival on the scene in July, has made free access to abortion one of the driving forces of her electoral campaign.
“I lived through the pre-Roe v. Wade era,” Cohn said. “Women were dying because they didn’t have access to abortion. And they’re dying again now. It’s terrible.”
To read, on the same subject
Disinformation and intimidation
This does not seem to be the opinion of the Republican Party of Florida which, for several weeks, sensing the threat that Amendment 4 could represent at the ballot box next November, has been increasing the number of campaigns calling for a vote no to the referendum.
On television, a somber message warns of the “extreme” nature of the text, which “would open abortions at any time, for any reason” and “would allow late-term abortions without the supervision of a doctor.” A misleading interpretation of the wording of the amendment amplified by Zee Andino, a physiotherapist who came to demonstrate her support for Donald Trump on Saturday morning, flag in hand, along Highway 60 which crosses Tampa Bay. “They want to authorize the abortion of a 9-month-old baby,” she said with conviction. “This is not in our religious values. God is watching what we are doing and we must oppose this amendment.”
This exaggeration of the murder of a 9-month-old baby was deliberately formulated by the populist during the televised debate to tug at the heartstrings of his troops. However, Amendment 4 mentions a protection of abortion before the viability of the fetus, scientifically located at 24e week of pregnancy.
Earlier this month, Democrats decried the use of “election police,” set up by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 to hunt down fraudsters, to intimidate people who signed the nearly 900,000-name petition that put Amendment 4 on the ballot in November. A handful of them had the police show up at their homes to check the validity of their signatures, as part of an investigation launched by the Republican, despite the fact that the petition had been vetted by multiple committees and submitted for approval to the Florida Supreme Court, which upheld it.
This is government interference in an election, and it’s kind of ironic coming from a group that calls for less government in people’s lives, but likes to use big government to tell people how to live their lives.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration also found itself in trouble after the agency’s website launched a campaign blasting Amendment 4. “Florida protects life. Don’t let the scaremongers lie to you,” it read, with a call further down the page to “prevent [que] Florida does not become a tourist destination for abortion.
“We are facing a campaign of disinformation designed to provoke fear and that is being fed through government systems,” Lauren Brenzel, director of the Yes to Amendment 4 campaign, said in the pages of the magazine. Slate. This is the modus operandi of authoritarianism.”
“This is government interference in an election, and it’s kind of ironic coming from a group that calls for less government in people’s lives but likes to use big government to tell people how to live their lives,” Cohn said. “Whether a woman wants an abortion is none of our business. But we have to make sure as a society that she has the opportunity to do so.”
To pass, Amendment 4 must garner at least 60 percent support on Nov. 5, according to Florida’s rules. In several other states, referendums on the same issue require a 50 percent vote.
“It doesn’t make it easy for us, but I’m confident that the yes vote will win on Amendment 4,” said Nicole Hanna, 24, who stood on a street corner in Carrollwood Saturday morning with her sign. “The November election is important for my generation, and I hope that the youth vote will come out in large numbers for the hope that Kamala Harris brings and against the negative worldview that Donald Trump brings.”
Our other reports in Florida
Trump, a pro-woman candidate?
On Friday, as the Democrat attacked her anti-abortion policies head on, the populist took to the keyboard and his usual capital letters on his social network to claim that women were “poorer” today than they were four years ago, “less healthy,” “less safe,” “more depressed” and “sad.” “I’m going to tackle that,” he added. “Women are going to be happier, healthier, more confident and free” and will be “protected to a level never seen before,” under his new presidency, he promised.
On Saturday afternoon, from North Carolina where he was campaigning, the man added to the message, sending this message to women: “You will no longer think about abortion,” he said.
This report was financed with the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund-The Duty.