Abortion rights on the ballot in Florida

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Florida’s sweeping new six-week abortion ban will be one of the worst things ever to happen to women in this state.

But paradoxically, it might also be one of the best things to happen to democracy in Florida.

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 2022 state law that prohibits abortion after 15 weeks, ruling that the right to an abortion is not protected by the privacy clause in the state Constitution.

The conservative court’s 6-1 decision triggers a much more restrictive six-week ban that the state Legislature passed last year and that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in a closed-door ceremony as he ramped up what became a disastrous campaign for president.

DeSantis’ weird late-night secrecy signaled that he knew he was on shaky ground, and sure enough, some of his richest campaign contributors soon expressed doubts about such a brutal attack against women’s reproductive rights.

The six-week ban, which takes effect in 30 days, is in line with other extreme anti-abortion laws in other Southern states, and makes abortion virtually illegal in the entire southeastern U.S.

Many women are not even aware they are pregnant after six weeks, and those who are will be forced to flee Florida’s cruelly life-threatening restrictions to the Northeast or Midwest for medical care.

But the same court that imposed this highly repressive six-week ban on Florida also gave its approval to a statewide ballot initiative that asks voters to restore abortion rights up to the point of viability, or until 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Passage of Amendment 4 on the statewide ballot on Nov. 5 would invalidate the six-week abortion ban. A powerful and timely argument in favor of passing Amendment 4 is to repeal the six-week ban that is so punitive, even some Republican legislators in Florida refused to vote for it.

The six-week ban passed the Florida Senate, 26-13, and the House, 70-40. Not one lawmaker in either party in Broward and Palm Beach counties voted for it.

So, on a single tumultuous day in Florida, the Supreme Court imposed a brutal abortion ban and simultaneously gave voters the power to repeal it. In so doing, the court may have dramatically transformed the political landscape of the nation’s third-largest state.

“Make no mistake, Florida is not an easy state to win,” President Joe Biden’s campaign manager wrote in a memo that described an “opening” that did not exist before the court’s decisions. “But it is a winnable one for President Biden, especially given Trump’s weak, cash-strapped campaign, and serious vulnerabilities within his coalition.”

In contrast to the Democrats’ newfound sense of hope, Republicans were strangely silent after the court rulings came down.

DeSantis, who usually has an opinion on just about any subject, said nothing.

Not a word from the governor who appointed five of the justices who upheld the six-week abortion ban he signed in secret.

Nor has there been a word from Sen. Rick Scott, who has said he would have signed the six-week abortion ban had he been governor, and who could now face a much tougher re-election challenge from Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

There was more silence from the Republicans in the Florida congressional delegation. It’s no coincidence.

The abortion rights question is certain to galvanize voters, many of whom are more likely to vote Democratic. This issue is to Republicans as immigration is to Democrats, meaning it’s potentially very damaging at the ballot box.

Polls show strong bipartisan support for abortion rights in Florida, despite the rightward drift of the state’s politics in recent years and the dramatic surge in Republican voter registration.

A poll conducted by the University of North Florida last November showed 62% of voters favored Amendment 4, with a majority of Republicans (53%) and independents (58%) in support.

The amendment must win support from more than 60% of voters to be enshrined in the state Constitution.

Abortion will be on the ballot and nothing can change that, and this may yet be the most intense ballot initiative fight in Florida history. Voters also will decide on Amendment 3, whether to legalize recreational marijuana use.

In both cases, justices soundly rejected the tortured legal arguments of Attorney General Ashley Moody, who wanted both initiatives kicked off the ballot (and who is considered a possible candidate for governor in 2026).

In a court filing, Moody called the wording of the abortion initiative a “trick” designed to “hoodwink” voters. Her legal defeats are clear victories for direct democracy.

The final decisions are in the hands of voters, where they belong.

All of a sudden, Florida is relevant again.