Florida Republicans Are Breaking the Law to Keep Abortion Banned

9.9.24

Click to skip ahead: In Florida’s Dirty Tricks, Republicans are weaponizing state agencies against Amendment 4. More attacks on democracy in Ballot Measure Updates from Missouri and Nebraska. In the States, news from North Carolina, Florida, South Dakota, Minnesota and Indiana. In the Nation, a few quick listens and reads that are worth your time. 2024 looks at what to expect during tomorrow’s debate. In Stats & Studies, a shocking but important new report on the consequences of abortion bans. And in My One-Star Reviews, anti-abortion activists are leaving review on my new book even though it hasn’t been released yet.

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Florida’s Dirty Tricks

Conservatives know that when abortion is on the ballot, abortion wins—that’s why Republicans have opened up a Pandora’s box of dirty tricks in every single state considering a pro-choice amendment. All of the attacks on democracy have been awful, but I don’t know that anyone will be able to top what’s happening in Florida, where the GOP is trying to boot abortion off the ballot by manufacturing voter ‘fraud.’

I told you last week that Gov. Ron DeSantis has his ‘election crimes’ department investigating 36,000 petition signatures in an attempt to find a reason to keep abortion off the ballot. What made the request to county election supervisors so odd was that they asked for signatures that had already been deemed valid months ago.

Some voters even report police showing up their homes to question them about their Amendment 4 petition signatures. “The experience left me shaken,” voter Isaac Menasche said. Another voter says an officer came to her home looking for a family member who had signed the petition; they claimed one of the numbers on their date of birth was wrong.

And that’s exactly how they’ll find cases of ‘fraud’—paperwork errors. Maybe someone will accidentally sign a petition twice, or they’ll forget to include the date and the petitioner will fill it in for them (which is against state rules). Republicans will take a collection of minor infractions—perhaps make some showy arrests—and use it all to claim that support for the amendment is fraudulent.

Amendment 4 campaign director Lauren Brenzel told me today, “They’re blatantly trying to silence voters.”

Again, what election officials and abortion rights advocates find so egregious is that the GOP is going after verified signatures. Especially because the Amendment 4 campaign actually paid local election supervisors over $1 million to verify signatures on a rolling basis—ensuring that each and every signatures was counted correctly.

But none of that matters to Republicans, who are working strategically to keep the issue off the ballot or call its validity into question if the amendment passes. For example, pro-choicers didn’t just have to collect a certain number of signatures in the state—but a certain number of signatures in a certain number of districts. A few sources on the ground in Florida tell me they believe DeSantis and his cronies are targeting specific districts where the margins might be tight.

In addition this bogus ‘fraud’ investigation, Florida Republicans are weaponizing state agencies to lobby against Amendment 4. Last week, the state Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) launched a website opposing the pro-choice amendment, claiming that it “threatens women’s safety.” The site repeats anti-abortion myths about Amendment 4—like the idea that it eliminates parental rights—and insists that Florida’s 6-week ban actually protects women. (The AHCA also released a video to the same effect, which is eerily similar to the video we saw last week in South Dakota.)

All of this amounts to a state-run opposition campaign to a citizen initiative. Bacardi Jackson, the executive director of the ACLU of Florida, tells the Tampa Bay Times that it’s “unprecedented.”

“This kind of propaganda issued by the state, using taxpayer money and operating outside of the political process sets a dangerous precedent. This is what we would expect to see from an authoritarian regime, not in the so-called ‘Free State of Florida.’”

Florida Senate minority leader Lauren Book tweeted that what the AHCA is doing is actually illegal, and that “we are looking into appropriate legal action.”

DeSantis defended the website this afternoon, claiming that everything on there is “factual” and that “it’s not weighing in on any particular measure, whether you should vote for or against something.” (It’s a hilariously false statement, considering that the website quite literally says the amendment endangers women’s lives.) DeSantis also defended the ‘fraud’ investigation, making unsubstantiated claims that pro-choice activists had submitted petition signatures on behalf of dead people.

I’ll keep you updated as I find out (and investigate) more. But it’s hard to imagine a more blatant attack on voters. Indeed, Brenzel has it exactly right when she told me that because abortion is a stigmatized issue, it’s become “a litmus test for how far you can dismantle democracy.”

Ballot Measure Updates

The attacks on democracy aren’t limited to Florida, unfortunately. Last weekend, a Missouri judge ruled that the pro-choice ballot measure set to go on the November ballot is invalid, creating the possibility that voters there won’t have a say on abortion rights after all. (Notably, the judge who issued the ruling is from a well-known ultra-conservative legal family in the state, and happens to be cousins with the late Rush Limbaugh.)

Now the decision on whether voters will see Amendment 3 lays with the Missouri Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments on the case tomorrow. Democratic mayors in the state issued a brief to the state Supreme Court today, asking them to reverse the judge’s decision, noting, “In an era of public mistrust of government, judicial branch invalidation of citizen efforts threatens to reinforce a myth that Missouri’s government does not listen to its people.”

The legal challenge, brought by the conservative legal group the Thomas More Society, claims that the abortion rights measure contains more than one subject because language about the right to “reproductive freedom,” they say, could include “infinite subjects.”

The Court is expected to issue a quick decision, because there’s a 5pm deadline on Tuesday for finalizing ballots.

You may remember that the Thomas More Society brought a near-identical case in Nebraska against a pro-choice ballot measure headed to the state in November. (Once again, arguing that the proposed amendment violates the state’s single subject rule.) That challenge was heard before Nebraska’s Supreme Court today, and the Court will have to move quickly here as well.

In the States

In addition to weaponizing state agencies to quash voters’ rights, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying to rally opposition against Amendment 4 among Republicans and religious groups. At a Saturday night event, DeSantis chastised Republicans who are avoiding talking about the abortion rights amendment, accusing them of running and hiding. “You’ve got to stand up even when it’s not easy, even when you’re taking the arrows,” he said. It gives the distinct impression that the Florida governor is tired of being slammed and taking lone responsibility for the state’s extremist ban.

DeSantis also repeated the truly bananas claim that because the proposed amendment uses the term “healthcare provider,” it would allow anyone to provide abortions. “That could be a chiropractor, that could be a clerk at Planned Parenthood,” he said.

The following day, Desantis spoke at a Tallahassee church, urging people to spread the word against Amendment 4:

“I could have just said, 'You know what, it's on the ballot, people can decide, let the chips fall where they may.' But that's not the right thing to do.”

Yeah god forbid you let people have a choice.

In South Dakota, abortion rights advocates are responding to the bizarre video released by the state health department that supposedly tells doctors when they can legally save women’s lives. Attorney Nancy Turbak Berry, a former South Dakota lawmaker in the state, says she gets the sense the state is embarrassed or concerned over the law and that the video is “trying to smooth off some of the rough edges of our extreme abortion ban.”

Surprise, surprise. North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson was caught on tape admitting that he wants to issue a total abortion ban, despite recent efforts to appear more moderate on the issue. Even though the Republican had said previously that he supports North Carolina’s 12-week ban, Robinson says in the audio, "Do I want to continue to lower it? You better know it.”

He goes on to say that he wants the law to be pushed down to 6-weeks, “and ultimately down to zero weeks.” But, he says, “we can’t do it all at once." The leaked audio comes just weeks after Robinson released a shameless campaign ad sharing his wife’s abortion story—an attempt to assuage voters’ worries that the Republican is too extreme on abortion.

Robinson wasn’t the only Republican caught on tape revealing their anti-abortion extremism this week: A Minnesota Republican running for an open House seat told supporters in April that he would support a state constitutional amendment banning abortion entirely. “I would get behind that in a heartbeat if it had any chance at all to win,” Steve Pape said.

My favorite quote from the tape, though, is when he says, “I want nothing more than to go back where we were 20 years ago.” Sounds about right!

Finally, Indiana anti-abortion activists were in court on Friday to try to make women’s individual abortion reports public records in the same way birth and death certificates are. I’ve been tracking this story for a while now, but in case you need a refresher: Voices for Life in Indiana wants the records to be made publicly available so they can scour them for evidence of legal wrongdoing. And Indiana’s Attorney General Todd Rokita has also been fighting the state health department to make the records public, claiming that he can’t prosecute providers without help from groups like Voices for Life.

What makes this case so interesting is that Republicans have long-claimed that abortion reports exist to protect women. But Voices for Life’s legal challenge says explicitly that the intent of the reporting law was always to make it easier to prosecute healthcare providers. They’re giving up the game!

The legal battle in Indiana also has national implications, because abortion ‘reporting’ is a tremendous part of anti-choice strategy. Not only does it have a chilling effect on care—people are going to be less likely to see a doctor if they know their visit will be reported to the state—these reports also allow Republicans to fabricate data.

Quick hits:

• The New York Times has more on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit to gain access to women’s out-of-state abortion records;

• The Alabama Reflector on how Dobbs paved the way for Alabama’s ban on gender-affirming care;

• And a new poll shows that West Virginia voters are split on the state’s abortion ban.

In the Nation

The latest episode of NPR’s “1A” podcast looks at the role abortion rights is playing in November’s election, from the presidency to ballot measure efforts:

One of Republicans’ favorite nonsense talking points is the idea that Democrats support abortion ‘up until birth.’ That’s why I appreciate pieces like this one from Salon’s Nicole Karlis, which reminds readers that it’s GOP restrictions that make it difficult for patients to seek out care earlier in their pregnancies. From OBGYN Dr. Diane Horvath:

“What has happened with a lot of our patients is that they've been trying to have an abortion for months, and the costs and barriers start to compound and become insurmountable until people are later in pregnancy.”

Finally, a Fox News debate reminds us why using language about ‘viability’ is such a mistake for pro-choicers. Not only is it inaccurate, it arms conservatives with the messaging they’re desperate for.

“Exceptions are meaningless, they’re cosmetic. It is inexcusable to have any law restricting access to abortion.”

- Colorado abortion provider, Dr. Warren Hern

2024

Vice President Kamala Harris will debate Donald Trump tomorrow evening, and I don’t know that I’m ready for it. Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s going to wipe the floor with him—but I hate that she has to share a stage with Trump at all. The fact that Harris has to pretend as if he’s worthy of her time and attention is infuriating.

As you probably guessed, Abortion, Every Day will have a live chat going during the debate for paid subscribers. So if you’ve been waiting to upgrade your subscription, now is a really good time to do so! The live chats here are always great, but it will be especially nice to be surrounded by this community when we’re forced to listen to Trump’s incessant misogynist bloviating. I’ll also publish a piece tomorrow on what to expect during the debate, including anti-abortion terms to watch out for.

That said, I am worried that despite how big of a fucking deal abortion rights is to voters—the number one issue for women under 45 years old!—moderators may not give the issue the attention it deserves. We’ve watched in the past as candidates are given one or two paltry questions, rather than time to dig into things. Here’s hoping tomorrow is different.

Vice President Kamala Harris has released a new campaign ad slamming Trump’s anti-abortion extremism. Check it out below:

Quick hits:

• Alanna Vagianos at HuffPost writes that Trump’s deliberately muddled talking points on abortion are starting to fall apart;

• The Harris/Walz Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour is in North Carolina today;

• The New York Times on how Harris may talk about abortion during the debate;

• And The Hill points out that Trump would say anything on abortion in order to get elected.

Stats & Studies

A new study from Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) drives home what we already knew was true: Abortion bans are causing massive gaps in care, to the point of downright torturing patients. The researchers heard from dozens of doctors about what abortion bans have done to patients, like one woman who ended up in the ICU with life-threatening sepsis because she was denied care after her water broke too early in her pregnancy. Another had her liver transplant canceled after doctors found out she was pregnant.

It was the story of a woman forced to give birth to a baby with anencephaly, though, that made me have to shut my computer:

“The scream and wailing she let out once she saw the baby was soul-crushing and enough to break everyone in the room. The mother kept screaming ‘Why, God?’ in Spanish over and over.”

As a result of these nightmare stories, healthcare providers are also suffering. Lead researcher Dr. Daniel Grossman told States Newsroom one of the most notable things about the submissions from healthcare providers “is how moral distress is being incorporated into medical education.”

“Medical students and residents are essentially now learning about the moral distress as part of their medical education, as they’re learning about the care that they can’t provide,” he said.  

For example, one doctor relays overhearing a primary provider tell a nurse that “so much as offering a helping hand to a patient getting onto the gurney while in the throes of a miscarriage could be construed as ‘aiding and abetting an abortion’.”

They called it “a gross violation of common sense and the oath I took when I got into this profession to soothe my patients’ suffering.” The report is a difficult read, to say the least, but it’s an important one.

In related news, PBS NewsHour covers how restrictive abortion laws are impacting OBGYNs, the training they get and the care they give. You can watch the segment below, which reiterates what we’ve been tracking here at Abortion, Every Day: bans are preventing doctors from doing their jobs, and anti-choice states are losing reproductive healthcare providers as a result.

My One-Star Reviews

I expected my new book to get negative reviews from anti-abortion folks, but I didn’t think it would happen before publication! That’s right, antis are leaving the book one-star reviews on Goodreads even before Abortion has hit the shelves. Here’s a fun one:

It’s sort of funny right now, but obviously I worry that anti-abortion activists will leave reviews like this on all sorts of platforms—impacting the book’s rating as it gets released. So if you end up buying the book and liking it, please please please consider leaving a good review in multiple places! (Goodreads, Amazon, etc) It will help offset all the bullshit and I’ll be forever grateful.