Reproductive Rights News Roundup – December 1st 2023

Florida

New poll shows support for abortion rights in Florida transcends, party, gender, age
By Christine Jordan Sexton
Florida Politics
A new poll of Florida voters shows a proposed abortion rights initiative could pass in 2024 if it makes the ballot and that the measure has picked up support across gender, racial and party lines.

Abortion-rights advocates narrow focus of petition drive for FL constitutional amendment
By Michael Moline
Florida Phoenix
The organization behind the proposed amendment to enshrine the right to abortion within the Florida Constitution is narrowing its petition drive to 10 specific congressional districts to make sure it demonstrates broad support across the state.

Economists can’t determine fiscal impact of abortion-rights amendment
By Jackie Llanos
Florida Phoenix
State economists have made it official: They can’t tell how a proposed abortion rights amendment could affect Florida’s economy, given uncertainty about how the Florida Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the state’s 15-week abortion ban.

Ballot amendments have turned out Democrats in the past, now leaders want a replay for abortion
By Stephany Matat
Palm Beach Post
After underwhelming turnout in the 2022 midterm elections, Florida Democrats are banking on a ballot amendment to enshrine reproductive rights in the state Constitution.

Delray Beach mother: I’m living proof why reproductive freedom is essential
By Rachel S. Weiner
Palm Beach Post
I am a wife, a daughter, a sister, a mother of three, and, like nearly one in four women in this country, someone who has had or will have an abortion.

Florida Abortion Rights Activists Hope to Use Momentum From Ohio Ballot Victory
By Khaya Himmelman
The Messenger
Coming off the heels of a significant abortion win in Ohio earlier this month with the passage of Issue 1, abortion rights activists are now turning their attention to Florida, where a proposed abortion rights measure known as the Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion, is currently being reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

Organizers Confident They’ll Get Enough Signatures to Put a Proposed Reproductive Rights Amendment on the Florida Ballot Next Year
By Kevin Kerrigan
WQCS Fort Pierce
Organizers of the initiative to get a reproductive rights amendment on the ballot in next years’ election are confident they’ll get enough signatures, and confident they’ll overcome the Attorney Generals objections to the wording.

“I Was So Naive”: The Painful Stories Behind Abortion Restrictions
By Abigail Tracy
Vanity Fair
As Anya Cook sat at the hairdresser, she thought she might die.

Fabián Basabe withdraws 12-week abortion ban proposal after no Democrat supports it
By Jesse Scheckner
Florida Politics
Rep. Fabián Basabe has aborted a bill. The Miami Beach Republican withdrew a measure Tuesday that would have allowed Florida women to terminate their pregnancies up to 12 weeks after fertilization, rather than the six-week limit GOP lawmakers passed in April.

Ron DeSantis warns that abortion rights advocates are ‘loaded for bear’ in Florida
By A.G. Gancarski
Florida Politics
Gov. Ron DeSantis is happy that it will take at least 60% of the vote to protect abortion access via a ballot initiative next year, because he expects amendment sponsors to be “loaded for bear.”

Ron DeSantis: Men should owe ‘support’ to women they impregnate ‘from conception’
By A.G. Gancarski
Florida Politics
In Iowa, Ron DeSantis is taking a firm stance in favor of men being obligated to pay support to women carrying their children from the moment of conception by way of “making sure that the fathers are involved.”

Rep. Frederica Wilson pushes for proposed Florida abortion rights constitutional amendment
By Sergio R. Bustos
WLRN Miami
Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica S. Wilson, of Miami Gardens, and Democratic state Sen. Jason Pizzo, of Miami Lakes, will help collect signatures this weekend for a proposed constitutional amendment that would ensure abortion rights in Florida.

CDC report: Across states, 626,000 abortions reported in 2021; FL shows highest number
By Diane Rado
Florida Phoenix
In states across the country, 625,978 abortions were reported in 2021, with Florida showing the highest number in the analysis, according to data published Wednesday from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Abortion rights organization wading into Public Defender contests for the first time
By Anne Geggis
Florida Politics
With a bill poised to go into effect that calls for criminalizing abortions, a reproductive rights organization is wading into Public Defender contests and endorsing candidates for the first time in its 15-year history.

Newsom TV ad hits DeSantis on abortion as Fox debate looms
By Christopher Cadelago
Politico
California Gov. Gavin Newson is sending a warning shot at Florida’s Ron DeSantis over abortion ahead of their anticipated clash on Fox News later this month.

Lawmakers say expanding telehealth could make pregnancy safer
By Regan McCarthy
WFSU Tallahassee
The risk of death for mothers during pregnancy or in the year following childbirth is rising and experts say one of the contributing factors is lack of access to healthcare.

Specious argument against abortion initiative insults voters
Editorial
South Florida Sun Sentinel
The people who don’t want Floridians voting on abortion rights seem to fear that the Supreme Court would allow it.

Advocates in Polk County make final push to get abortion amendment on ballot
By Gary White
Lakeland Ledger
Jo Shim shivered through a chilly afternoon Tuesday as she stood outside the cafeteria on the campus of Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland.

National

How Many Abortions Did the Post-Roe Bans Prevent?
By Margot Sanger-Katz and Claire Cain Miller
New York Times
The first data on births since Roe v. Wade was overturned shows how much abortion bans have had their intended effect: Births increased in every state with a ban, an analysis of the data shows.

Biden Administration Nibbles at the Maternal Health Crisis
By Phil Galewitz
KFF Health News
Choosing where to give birth typically comes down to what hospital is most convenient to your home, where your obstetrician practices and your insurance company’s provider network.

Mike Johnson’s America: Revisit landmark SCOTUS decisions and use government to ‘restrain evil’
By Andrew Kaczynski and Curt Devine
CNN
Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, voiced support for revisiting Supreme Court decisions that struck down restrictions on the use of contraception, barred bans on gay sex and legalized same sex marriages, according to a CNN review of his prior public statements.

Abortion word games
By Rebecca Crosby and Tesnim Zekeria
Popular Information
On Tuesday, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) rejected the language of a proposed ballot amendment that would repeal the state’s abortion ban.