In November, Floridians will decide whether abortion should be more widely available in the state, turning back a state law that severely limited when an abortion could be sought.
That law came amid a concerted push to limit if not outright ban abortions in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision in 2022.
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Here’s what has happened with abortion in Florida in the last few years and how the constitutional amendment on the ballot in November could change that if it passes.
What Florida law currently says
Florida law currently allows abortions up to six weeks of gestation. The law defines gestation as beginning from the first day of the pregnant woman’s last menstrual period.
After six weeks, a physician cannot knowingly terminate a pregnancy unless:
- Two physicians certify in writing that the abortion is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life, or avoid a serious risk of “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”
- Or, one physician can certify in writing that there is a medical need for an emergency medical procedure to terminate the pregnancy, again to save the woman’s life or avert substantial or irreversible injury, but there must be no other physician available for consultation.
- Or, the pregnancy is in the second trimester and two doctors certify in writing that the fetus has a fatal fetal abnormality.
- Or, the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest or human trafficking. In this case, the pregnancy is allowed up to 15 weeks as determined by the doctor. The patient must provide a copy of a restraining order, police report, court order or other evidence documenting her victim status.
In addition, Florida law requires a physician to perform or induce an abortion in person. A doctor cannot prescribe medication to induce abortions via telehealth and medical abortion medications cannot be mailed to a patient.
If an abortion is sought in the third trimester, the doctor needs to do all they can to preserve the life and health of the fetus, unless doing so conflicts with preserving the life and health of the pregnant woman. In that case, “the physician must consider preserving the woman’s life and health the overriding and superior concern.”
The legal battle
For the longest time, abortion was allowed in Florida up to the viability of the fetus to live outside the womb (typically around 24 weeks of pregnancy).
In 2022, the Florida Legislature passed a bill, which Gov. DeSantis signed into law, to limit abortions to 15 weeks of gestation. That law was challenged in the state court system, based on a ruling from the 1980s that restricting abortion was a violation of a Floridian’s right to privacy. The law was blocked until a final decision was reached.
While that was happening, in 2023, the Florida Legislature passed a stricter six-week ban on abortion, which DeSantis quietly signed into law in April 2023.
Because of the lawsuit in the courts, this stricter ban was also put on hold until the Florida Supreme Court reached a ruling.
That court did that in April of 2024, ruling that the 15-week law did not violate the right to privacy.
With that question now settled, the stricter ban officially went into effect on May 1, 2024 and is now the law in Florida.
Since then, the number of abortions that have taken place in Florida has fallen, according to data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. As of Aug. 1, 40,499 abortions had been performed in 2024 so far. However, the number of abortions reported between July and August was 31% lower than the number of abortions reported in the same period in 2023.
Of those reported abortions, 37,551 occurred in the first trimester, 2,945 occurred in the second trimester, and three happened in the third trimester.
Amendment 4
After DeSantis signed the six-week ruling into law, a coalition of groups started a petition campaign to get a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution that would limit government interference in abortion. The campaign was launched in May of 2023, and by September it had enough verified petition signatures to trigger a Supreme Court review, a record for citizens’ initiatives in the state.
The proposed amendment says “Except as provided in Article X, Section 22, 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.”
Article X, Section 22 of the Florida Constitution guarantees the right of parents or guardians to be notified before a minor tries to terminate a pregnancy.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody challenged the amendment in the Florida Supreme Court, insisting the language was vague and would be a “trojan horse” to allow a further unraveling of Florida abortion laws.
However, the Florida Supreme Court disagreed and approved the amendment for the November 2024 ballot on April 1. The amendment is labeled Amendment 4. In order to pass, 60% of Florida voters need to approve it.
The state government released a controversial financial impact statement for Amendment 4 that advocates tried to get removed because it posits that it could invalidate laws requiring parental consent for minors (which is protected in the Florida Constitution), or that only licensed physicians can perform abortions. The statement also said any uncertainties about the amendment will lead to lawsuits that will cost the state money.
That issue is currently before the Florida Supreme Court.
Floridians Protecting Freedom is the group behind Amendment 4, with a coalition of dozens of organizations behind it, including Planned Parenthood, ACLU of Florida and the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition.
There is a concerted effort to defeat the amendment from anti-abortion advocates. A group called Florida Voters Against Extremism launched the “Vote No on 4″ campaign, and has the financial support of several Catholic dioceses and groups, as well as a PAC belonging to Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, called Conservatives for Principled Leadership, according to Florida Division of Elections records.
Eight U.S. states will have a measure on the ballots protecting abortion, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and activists in another three states are trying to get one on the ballots.
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