Florida's Amendment 4 Should Have Won. What Happened?

Amendment 4 fell short of its 60% threshold

I’m incredibly sorry to report that the pro-choice ballot measure in Florida has not passed. Amendment 4 fell just short of the 60% threshold they needed to protect abortion in the state constitution, breaking the pro-choice ballot measure winning streak.

I’m heartbroken for the people on the ground in Florida who worked so hard on the measure, and for the millions of women and girls who will go without care as a result of the loss.

More than that, I’m angry. Florida voters want abortion rights restored: At last count, the amendment had 57% support and 1.5 million more votes! 

But because of that high threshold put in by Republicans—who wanted to make it even higher—Floridians Protecting Freedom had a big hurdle to clear. In addition to being the first post-Dobbs abortion rights amendment that needed more than just a simple majority to pass, Amendment 4 was up against a massive state-led opposition campaign.

Over the last few months, Gov. Ron DeSantis had launched a full-scale assault against the pro-choice amendment, flouting the law that prohibits the governor from using the power of his office to influence the outcome of an election. Using millions in taxpayer dollars, DeSantis weaponized state agencies to run a disinformation campaign against Amendment 4, and to intimidate voters who supported the measure. 

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) created an entire website dedicated to lying about Amendment 4—claiming that it would endanger women’s lives. The AHCA also ran ads on TV, radio and online to claim that the state’s abortion ban was perfectly safe and that pro-choice activists were spreading misinformation that would scare doctors out of providing care and women out of seeking it. It has been truly despicable to watch. 

DeSantis also directed the state health department to threaten television stations running ads for Amendment 4, telling journalists that they’d be criminally charged if they didn’t stop running the ads. And he’s appeared in an ongoing press tour with extremist doctors posing as experts concerned with women’s health.

But we’re not done yet: DeSantis also launched a bogus voter fraud investigation into petition signatures for Amendment 4, using the Office of Election Crimes & Security—the same department he used to target and arrest Black voters in 2022. He even had cops showing up at voters’ homes to question them about their signatures. 

After ‘investigating’ tens of thousands of already-verified signatures, Republicans insisted that over 16% of the signatures were invalid. (Just enough to argue that not enough voters truly signed to get Amendment 4 on the ballot.) If the measure passed, it was clearly their plan to use those bullshit numbers to stop enforcement of Amendment 4. 

The truth is that Florida Republicans don’t care what voters want. We know that Floridians oppose the state’s 6-week abortion ban and the millions more votes in support of Amendment 4 prove as much. The fact that Amendment 4 won majority support despite the unprecedented Republican hurdles is a testament to just how popular abortion rights are, and just how angry voters are. 

That said, I know that doesn’t take the sting out of tonight’s loss. The continuation of Florida’s 6-week ban won’t just impact the millions of women and girls in the state, but the entire nation. Before the state passed its 6-week abortion ban, Florida was an abortion access hub for the entire Southern region. Since the ban passed, clinics, funds and activists across the country have felt the effects. It truly is a loss for all Americans. 

I know, though, that Florida abortion rights activists are some of the best around. They will keep fighting, every day, for the people there. It’s our job to fight along with them.