MIAMI — Democrats and abortion-access advocates have been warning for months of an impending voter backlash against Republicans who backed Florida’s six-week ban on the procedure. Now, it’s time to find out whether they’re right or wrong.

The six-week ban, which was quietly signed into law last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, went into force on Wednesday, formally adding Florida to the list of states that have strictly curtailed abortion access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago.

But the abortion debate isn’t open and shut in Florida. Voters will have a choice in November: keep the new ban in effect or approve a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee abortion access before “fetal viability” — generally understood to be around 24 weeks of pregnancy — or if deemed medically necessary by a patient’s doctor.

Democrats say they stand to benefit from the ballot measure, known as Amendment 4, in November, believing their position on abortion resonates with a majority of Floridians. Polls show broad support for abortion access among Florida voters, and the issue has proved difficult for Republicans in other states to navigate in recent years.

Nikki Fried, the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, said that by enacting a six-week ban on the procedure, Republicans have overplayed their hand.

“They have completely removed themselves from the reality of what is about to happen here in the state of Florida,” Fried told the Miami Herald in an interview on Wednesday. “Women are going to die. Women are going to be denied the care they need.”

Florida’s 6-week ban maintains exceptions allowing abortions up to 15 weeks in instances of rape and incest, and even later in pregnancy for medical necessity, as determined by doctors. Republicans believe it’s a policy in line with Floridians’ values.

But Fried said that the state’s newly enacted law drastically limits women’s access to reproductive health care, not just in Florida, but across the South. Data released in January by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration showed that more abortions were performed in Florida last year than in 2022 — an increase driven by a 15% jump in the number of out-of-state residents who had an abortion in Florida.

With Florida joining other states that have either eliminated or drastically limited abortion access, the Sunshine State will no longer be a refuge for women seeking to have the procedure, Fried said. She said that, for the next six months, it will be the job of Democrats to “connect the dots” between Florida’s new abortion ban and the Republicans who paved the way for it.

“You can’t go into the voting booth and vote for enshrining abortion rights into our constitution and then vote for legislators and congressmen and U.S. senators who would just strip away your right,” she said.

...continued

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.