Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke in Tuesday, Oct. 22, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Jacksonville. | Governor’s Rumble page
Published on October 22, 2024 at 3:41 pm
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Gov. Ron DeSantis continued his campaign against Amendment 4 during a speech Tuesday at a Catholic church on the Westside.
He was accompanied by doctors who oppose the amendment, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution. Voters will decide on the amendment Nov. 5.
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DeSantis, speaking at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Blanding Boulevard, said the proposed amendment lacks defined terms, contains deceptive language and could take away parental consent for abortions.
READ MORE: Learn about ballot issues in Jacksonville Today‘s Voter Guides.
“If a parent finds out they are getting stuff done without even knowing or consenting, that’s not acceptable,” DeSantis said. “Now, there’s bait and switch on this provision too, because what it says on the ballot, there’s nothing in the amendment that will prohibit notification of the parents about a minor having an abortion. That is not the same as consent.”
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The doctors who joined DeSantis all wore white lab coats, including Dr. Kathi Aultman, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Orange Park.
Aultman said she once believed that abortions were a women’s right and she performed them “to help women.” But that changed after her daughter was born. She said she could no longer perform the surgery “just because they were unwanted.”
“My opinion also changed as I saw young women in my practice do well after keeping their unplanned pregnancies, as opposed to women who were struggling with the physical and emotional consequences of abortion,” she said. “Proponents of Amendment 4 keep saying that abortion is safe and effective, and that the abortion pill is safer than Viagra or Tylenol. But that’s easy to say when only 28 states report abortion complications” to the Centers for Disease Control.
The governor carried the same message to South Florida on Monday.
A group critical of DeSantis issued a statement condemning the use of government resources to oppose the amendment.
“DeSantis continued his weaponization of state government against his own constituents by coordinating a taxpayer-funded press conference with the political campaign opposing Amendment 4 in his quest to silence the voices of doctors and patients suffering under Florida’s extreme abortion ban,” said DeSantis Watch spokesman Anders Croy.
What Amendment 4 says
The actual ballot item is called the “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion.”
It says: “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. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
More than 60% of Floridians must vote “yes” in order for Amendment 4 to pass.
A political action committee called Floridians Protecting Freedom formed shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade to push for a constitutional amendment protecting Floridians’ access to abortion. The Florida Legislature has since prohibited most abortions after six weeks.
A group of Amendment 4 proponents, Yes on 4, Floridians Protecting Freedom, says it believes all Floridians deserve the freedom to make personal medical decisions, including about abortion, free of government intrusion.
The group’s website says it is “working together to protect Floridians’ access to abortion as reproductive health care and defend the right to bodily autonomy.” The group said that it recognizes that all Floridians deserve the freedom to make personal medical decisions, including about abortion, free of government intrusion.
A virtual town hall meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday in support of Amendment 4. The event is being held by Faith in Public Life Action, Planned Parenthood and Black in Repro. Attendees can register online.
