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Doral, Florida - This amendment would expand access to abortion. We have reviewed this issue before in “Viable, Schmiable: Let Unborn People Live” (May 13, 2024). However, as the campaign intensifies for this amendment, heading to Election Day on Tuesday, November 5, with two weeks of early voting, this issue is worth further review.
To start, we should note that the campaign for this amendment does not reflect a grassroots movement or citizens’ initiative. Instead, it is funded by the deep pockets of woke progressive donors, such as the Open Society Foundation and other associates of George Soros, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (except unborn colored people). These groups invested around $15,000,000 to collect the required 850,000 signatures to put this amendment on the ballot.
The Florida Constitution is flawed to allow its amendment by the direct vote of only 60% in a general election. The United States Constitution requires amendments to be approved by: (1) at least 67% of both Houses of Congress; or (2) on the application of at least 67% of state legislatures; and (3) thereafter at least 75% of states. This is a much higher standard and is appropriate for fundamental revisions to our governing documents.
Also, the Florida Supreme Court should have prevented such a vague and deceptive amendment from appearing on the ballot. The court’s vote in favor was four to three, with all the men voting for, and all the women voting against.
Nevertheless, Democrats are conducting a deceptive campaign to appeal to the emotion of voters, in response to the six-week abortion ban enacted by the Florida legislature. This ban is more restrictive than the usual 15-week ban, which has been adopted in many other states, including most in the European Union.
The flaws in the proposed amendment include: (1) not defining “viability;” (2) not defining “patient’s health;” (3) not requiring that the decision to abort be made by a medical doctor; and (4) not requiring prior parental consent. To expand on these points:
1. What is viability? As your columnist and many readers get older, every day we become less viable. Should we worry about being aborted? Under the Canadian national health service, the elderly and those seriously ill are urged to consider euthanasia. On the other extreme, intensive care units can save babies born with as little as 24 weeks of gestation. Viability is in many ways in the eye of the beholder.
2. What is the patient’s health? It will include not only physical health, but also emotional and financial health, as well as mental health. Of course having children is stressful to our mental health, and not having them may be worse.
3. The abortion decision may be made not by a medical doctor, nurse or other medical professional, but by the operator of the abortion clinic. These operators are not subject to the ethical standards of the medical profession.
4. Finally, prior parental consent to perform abortions on minors is eliminated. This consent is required for any other medical treatment of minors, even giving them an aspirin. Parents will be entitled to mere notification of their child’s abortion, after the deed is done.
Florida’s legislature recently enacted a law protecting parental rights in education, but Amendment No. 4 undermines parental rights in the sex lives of their children. As such, it represents another effort by woke progressive activists to separate parents from their children. This is what totalitarian socialist tyrannies, like Cuba, strive to do every day. Parental consent is essential to maintain the integrity of the family, which is a bastion of liberty against tyranny.
Abortion is not a federal case, because the United States Constitution does not cover this subject, as confirmed in the Dobbs opinion by the Supreme Court in 2022. Accordingly, at the state level, we must address this issue in a sober and rational manner, without yielding to emotional appeals from woke progressives. We should let unborn people live.
Florida is already the nation’s largest tourist destination, but approval of this amendment would turn us into the largest destination for abortion tourism. If Floridians vote to open up for abortion tourism, then we would become the California of the East Coast. Vote NO on Constitutional Amendment No. 4!
