Florida Amendment 4 was a proposed

amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They ...

to the

Florida Constitution The Constitution of the State of Florida is the document that establishes and describes the powers, duties, structure, and function of the government of the U.S. state of Florida, and establishes the basic law of the state. The current Constitu ...

, which failed on November 5, 2024. Through a statewide

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

, the amendment achieved 57% support among voters in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, short of the 60% supermajority required by law. The amendment would have enshrined a right to abortion in the Florida Constitution before

fetal viability Fetal viability is the ability of a human fetus to survive outside the uterus. Viability depends upon factors such as birth weight, gestational age, and the availability of advanced medical care. In low-income countries, more than 90% of extr ...

(generally considered to be between 23 and 24 weeks

gestational age In obstetrics, gestational age is a measure of the age of a pregnancy taken from the beginning of the woman's last menstrual period (LMP), or the corresponding age of the gestation as estimated by a more accurate method, if available. Such metho ...

) and nullified then-existing statutes such as the Heartbeat Protection Act. It would have also permitted abortion after viability (23 weeks to birth) for any reason a healthcare provider determined to be related to health.

Content

The ballot summary for the amendment stated the following:

''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 health-care 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.''

The initiative would have added the following text to Article I of the Florida Constitution:

''Except as provided in Article X, Section 22, 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 health-care provider.''

Financial impact statement

The financial impact statement for the amendment stated the following:

''The proposed amendment would result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births per year in Florida. The increase in abortions could be even greater if the amendment invalidates laws requiring parental consent before minors undergo abortions and those ensuring only licensed physicians perform abortions. There is also uncertainty about whether the amendment will require the state to subsidize abortions with public funds. Litigation to resolve those and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to the state government and state courts that will negatively impact the state budget. An increase in abortions may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time. Because the fiscal impact of increased abortions on state and local revenues and costs cannot be estimated with precision, the total impact of the proposed amendment is indeterminate.''

The financial impact statement was strongly criticized by amendment supporters, such as Floridians Protecting Freedom, who accused it of being a misleading political statement.

Legal challenges

Ballot access

Florida Attorney General

Ashley Moody Ashley Brooke Moody (born March 28, 1975) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving since 2025 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from the state of Florida. A member of the Republican P ...

, a Republican, has opposed the ballot initiative since October 2023, when she asked the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the state supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven justices—one of whom serves as Chief Justice. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geog ...

to analyze the ballot initiative. In November 2023, Moody urged the Florida Supreme Court to block the ballot initiative, as she questioned the definition of "viability" and argued that the ballot initiative will "lay ticking time bombs that will enable abortion proponents later to argue that the amendment has a much broader meaning than voters would ever have thought". The

in April 2024 approved Florida Amendment 4 to be placed on the ballot for voting in November 2024, because it adequately satisfied the requirements set. Despite Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody arguing that some of the language was deceptive, the Florida Supreme Court instead ruled that "it cannot be said that the ballot summary will mislead voters regarding the actual text of the proposed amendment." The Florida Supreme Court further stated that "the broad sweep of this proposed amendment is obvious in the language of the summary. Denying this requires a flight from reality", while ruling that there is "no basis for concluding that the proposed amendment is facially invalid under the United States Constitution."

Attempted censorship of campaign advertising

On October 4, 2024, the

Florida Department of Health The Florida Department of Health is responsible for protecting the public health and safety of the residents and visitors of the state of Florida. It is a cabinet-level agency of the state government, headed by a state surgeon general who report ...

's general counsel John Wilson sent

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

notices to multiple Florida television stations, threatening prosecution if they did not retract a campaign advertisement for Amendment 4. The department alleged the ad falsely implied that abortions to protect the life of the mother were not possible under current state law; while the ''Heartbeat Protection Act'' does contain exceptions for these scenarios, they are considered vague, and there have been reports of patients turned away by Florida hospitals due to uncertainties under the law. The letter asserted that the ad "threatens or impairs" the health of Florida residents by encouraging them to delay their abortion or pursue one out-of-state, therefore constituting a "sanitary nuisance" punishable as a criminal misdemeanor under state law. One station—

WINK-TV WINK-TV (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Myers, Florida, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for Southwest Florida. It is owned by the McBride family and their Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, making it one of a hand ...

in Fort Myers—complied with the cease and desist order. The threat was criticized by Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF)—the organization who produced the ad—who stated that it was an "unconstitutional state action", and "a textbook example of government coercion that violates the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

chairwoman

Jessica Rosenworcel Jessica Rosenworcel (born July 12, 1971) is an American attorney who served as a member and chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She originally served on the FCC from May 11, 2012, to January 3, 2017, and was confirmed by the Sen ...

stated that "threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government's views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech." On October 12, it was reported that Wilson had quietly resigned. On October 16, FPF filed a lawsuit against the Florida government, alleging "unconstitutional coercion and viewpoint discrimination" in its threats against television stations. The suit argued that the Florida government "cannot use its coercive powers as the state to attempt to chill or suppress the speech of FPF or others who would speak in support of the amendment or facilitate that speech. Wilson and surgeon general Joseph Ladapo are named in the lawsuit. The next day, a 12-day restraining order was granted against Ladapo by Judge Mark Walker, stating "to keep it simple for the State of Florida: it's the First Amendment, stupid." In an affidavit, Wilson revealed that he had been directed to send the letters by Ryan Dean Newman and Jed Doty—the general counsel and deputy general counsel of Governor

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the 46th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Pa ...

. He stated that he was not involved in the writing of the letters, and that he had resigned from his position in condemnation of their actions. FPF subsequently dropped Wilson from the suit.

Support and opposition

Florida governor

in April 2024 criticized Florida Amendment 4 as "radical" and "very, very extreme". Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones supported the amendment, stating "Abortion IS healthcare, and every Floridian should be able to access the care they need without government interference." Former President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, who is a Florida resident and the Republican presidential nominee for the

2024 presidential election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. *2024 United Nations Security Council election *2024 national electoral calendar *2024 local electoral ...

, has stated that he will vote "No" on the amendment, after previously stating that he is "going to be voting that we need more than six weeks".

Polling

A 60% supermajority vote is required for the amendment to be approved.

Notes

Partisan clients

References

External links

Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion 23-07
at Florida elections full text and other official information
Advisory Opinion to the Attorney General re: Limiting Government Interference with Abortion
– issued April 1, 2024 by the Supreme Court of Florida
Florida Amendment 4, Right to Abortion Initiative (2024)
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

{{2024 United States elections, state=collapsed Amendment 4 Florida Amendment 4 Abortion referendums Florida ballot measures Initiatives in the United States Proposed laws of Florida Healthcare in Florida Women in Florida