Florida Voters Hand Ron DeSantis A Big Win On Abortion Rights

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. ― Florida voters on Tuesday are projected to reject a pro-choice constitutional amendment that would have repealed the state’s six-week abortion ban and restored access to the procedure until about 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
Amendment 4, or the Right to Abortion Initiative, sought to add language to the Florida Constitution stating that “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.”
The amendment needed a supermajority 60% of the vote in order to pass, but received 57% of the vote. It’s the first abortion rights amendment to fail since the fall of federal abortion protections, despite receiving support from a majority of Floridians.
The election night watch party was filled with hundreds of supporters who started out the night excited; blaring feel-good music and passing around purple pompoms for supporters to wave around. The night had a David and Goliath feel to it ― a small, but mighty group taking on Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his extreme anti-abortion agenda. But as the night went on, supporters grew quieter, many staring at their phones watching as votes came in and support for Amendment 4 stalled out at 57%.
Lauren Brenzel, the director of the Yes On 4 campaign, took the stage around 9 p.m. ET to announce the amendment’s heartbreaking defeat. Several people in the room embraced each other, wiping away tears. Brenzel reminded the crowd that a majority of Floridians voted to repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban, and she plans to hold lawmakers accountable for their promises to repeal it.
“I look forward to legislators keeping their campaign word,” Brenzel said. “We are mandating you to end Florida’s extreme abortion ban this legislative session.”
The outcome is a disappointment for pro-choice advocates in the state who worked tirelessly and raised millions to get the measure on the ballot. For Floridians Protecting Freedom, the collective behind Amendment 4, the Right to Abortion Initiative involved a greater uphill battle than any other abortion rights ballot this election season, given the onslaught of attacks from Republican leadership.
Sarah Parker, the board chair for Yes On 4, came out swinging when she spoke to the tearful crowd on Tuesday night.
“This is war. This is war on our reproductive freedom. And not every battle lost is a war won. We did not lose tonight,” she said.
“We will continue to fight like hell … I will be damned if we walk out of this room with a defeatist attitude,” Parker continued. “Eighty-four thousand patients depend on us. So tonight, hug your friends, hug your families, hug your loved ones, but you get out there tomorrow, and you let Florida know we had 57%.”
DeSantis has turned Florida into one of the most extreme anti-abortion states in the country. Using taxpayer dollars, DeSantis launched a brazen assault on the pro-choice amendment months prior to Election Day. The governor traveled around the state weeks before the election hosting rallies in opposition to Amendment 4.
“The demise of pro-abortion Amendment 4 is a momentous victory for life in Florida and for our entire country,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America, said in a press release on Tuesday night. “Thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis, when we wake up tomorrow, babies with beating hearts will still be protected in the free state of Florida.”
Floridians were out in full in the weeks ahead of Election Day. A couple dozen students at the University of Central Florida in Orlando were tabling for Amendments 3 and 4 on Monday, handing out literature about where to vote and answering questions about the ballot initiatives. The DeSantis administration also opposed Amendment 3, which seeks to legalize recreational marijuana use.
Florida House Reps. Anna Eskamani (D) and Maxwell Frost (D) joined UCF’s College Democrats group on campus to get out the vote. Eskamani, who worked at Planned Parenthood for six years before she was elected to the state legislature, told HuffPost she shifted her entire get-out-the-vote campaign to fully focus on the Yes On 4 campaign in the days leading up to the election.
Jessica, a UCF sophomore and member of the College Democrats group, had been handing out literature to students every day for the last three weeks. She told HuffPost most of her conversations with other students have been simply educating them that there was a pro-choice amendment on the ballot and what it would do. Most students, she said, don’t even realize there’s a six-week abortion ban in place in Florida.
“We’re just trying to get students to realize that it’s the top ticket that matters, but also yes on 3 and 4,” Jessica said. “Yes on 4 is a really big point because we want women to have autonomy over their bodies.”
“I think a lot of students really do care about reproductive rights,” she added.
There were a handful of students from UCF’s College Republicans group manning a table in support of Donald Trump and handing out flyers in opposition to Amendments 3 and 4. When Jessica took a mic to speak to the students passing by, encouraging them to get out and vote yes on Amendment 4 and support Harris/Walz, one of the Republican students yelled out, “The election was stolen!”
Other news outlets have retreated behind paywalls. At HuffPost, we believe journalism should be free for everyone.
Would you help us provide essential information to our readers during this critical time? We can’t do it without you.
Can’t afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.
You’ve supported HuffPost before, and we’ll be honest — we could use your help again. We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can’t do it without you.
Whether you give once or many more times, we appreciate your contribution to keeping our journalism free for all.
You’ve supported HuffPost before, and we’ll be honest — we could use your help again. We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can’t do it without you.
Whether you give just one more time or sign up again to contribute regularly, we appreciate you playing a part in keeping our journalism free for all.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Other DeSantis attacks leading up to Election Day included adding a misleading fiscal impact statement alongside the pro-choice amendment. The statement was crafted by a supposedly nonpartisan committee that included a representative from the governor’s office and an economist from the Heritage Foundation, the ultra-conservative think tank behind Project 2025.
The DeSantis administration also weaponized a nonpartisan government agency to launch a misinformation campaign against Amendment 4 ― claiming that the six-week abortion ban was designed to “protect women from dangerous and unsanitary conditions.” The allegation does not line up with the reality that several Florida women have made national news for having lifesaving abortion care delayed or denied under the six-week ban.
A month before the election, the Florida Health Department sent a cease-and-desist letter to several local news outlets, threatening criminal charges if the outlets continued airing an advertisement that supported Amendment 4. It was later revealed that the letter ― signed by John Wilson, the general counsel to the Health Department at the time ― was actually written by DeSantis attorneys. The DeSantis officials gave the document to Wilson and directed him to sign it under his name. Wilson resigned shortly after, writing in his resignation letter that “a man is nothing without his conscience.”
The state’s current six-week abortion ban, which includes vague exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the pregnant person, will stay in effect.