Florida abortion rights: A ballot measure to restore abortion rights in Florida, which gained significant support from voters, failed because it did not meet the supermajority requirement. This makes Florida the first state to reject such a proposal since the Supreme Court overturned *Roe v. Wade* in 2022.
Until now, every state that voted on abortion access had passed such measures, including states like Michigan, California, and even traditionally Republican states such as Kansas and Kentucky.
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Abortion rights have become a major issue in the 2024 campaign, alongside immigration and the economy, especially after several high-profile cases where pregnant women died after being denied critical care. For Kamala Harris to win against Donald Trump, she will need to secure the votes of young, college-educated women who are particularly impacted by these abortion restrictions.
If Kamala Harris hopes to defeat Donald Trump, she’ll need college-educated young women most affected by abortion restrictions to vote in mass numbers.
According to Fortune, Florida’s Amendment 4, which would have legalized abortion before fetal viability or in cases where a patient’s health was at stake, needed 60% support in order to be adopted. Currently it is projected to achieve only 57%, with nearly all of the state’s votes already counted. “Amendment 4 has failed,” governor Ron DeSantis posted on Tuesday evening.
The former Republican presidential candidate incurred criticism for using state resources and the power of his office to openly campaign against the measure.
“The state of Florida weaponized a neutral democratic process and is using taxpayer dollars to deceive voters,” argued Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group that brought forth the amendment.
Florida isn’t the only state with abortion-related proposals on the ballot this election. South Dakota, Nebraska, and Arizona, a key battleground state, also have similar measures being voted on.
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In total, ten states are holding votes on such measures, but this time only a simple majority is needed to pass. Missouri, for example, overturned its strict abortion law by supporting Amendment 3, which restored reproductive rights in the state. Missouri became the first state to repeal its total abortion ban since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, with supporters celebrating the move as a historic victory for reproductive freedom.
Florida State Assemblywoman Anna Eskamani, representing Orlando, vowed to keep pushing for access to abortion in the state, pledging to continue the fight in Tallahassee.
“This is still a historic outcome that demonstrates how the majority of Floridians reject the state’s near-total abortion ban,” she wrote on Tuesday. “We must demand that the [Florida] legislature repeal the ban. We are the majority, and we’re not going anywhere.” Donald Trump also won Florida, earning him the state’s 30 electoral votes. So far, reliably Republican or Democratic states have been called, but no major battle
