Florida
Florida Supreme Court allows for ballot language abortion-rights activists fought
By Arek Sarkissian, Politico
The Florida Supreme Court rejected a request to strike a financial statement tied to a ballot initiative seeking to expand abortion access on Wednesday, after that statement was revised last month with the help of anti-abortion advocates.
Related: Florida Supreme Court sides with state panel in feud with abortion-rights amendment sponsors
‘All Gas, No Brakes’: How Florida Advocates Are Fighting to Enshrine Abortion Rights
By Erica Halbert, Rewire
On April 1, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the state’s unique privacy law did not include the right to abortion. Despite the timing, there was no humor in a punchline that overturned a 1989 decision.
Florida woman describes near-death from state abortion law at DNC. Who is Anya Cook?
By C. A. Bridges, USA Today Network-Florida
When Anya Cook’s water broke in 2022, she was 16 weeks pregnant and the Broward County doctor told her she would lose the fetus.
‘Guys go where their buddies are’: the young men recruiting each other to fight for abortion rights
By Carter Sherman, The Guardian
“Oh, no, no, I think you’re trying to get in contact with my wife.”
Florida ballot organizer aims to take politics out of abortion measure
By Sofia Resnick, States Newsroom
Three months into her new role as communications director for Floridians Protecting Freedom, the ballot initiative campaign to reinstate abortion rights in Florida, Natasha Sutherland unexpectedly found herself canvassing a cousin who comes from her religious Jamaican side of the family and lives in the southern part of the state.
Abortion amendment initiative draws more than $7 million
Staff Report, News Service of Florida
A political committee leading efforts to pass a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights raised $7.26 million from Aug. 3 through Thursday, according to a newly filed finance report.
Florida Dems say support for abortion rights ballot measure will help drive Harris votes
By Ariana Figueroa, Florida Phoenix
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told delegates at a breakfast meeting at the Democratic National Convention Monday that an abortion-related ballot measure will make the Sunshine State a battleground in the November elections.
Democrats’ future, abortion, legal pot: 5 questions for Florida’s general election
By Gray Rohrer, Tallahassee Democrat
The primary election is over, but the battle for the future of Florida is just getting started.
Leading national anti-abortion group forms PAC to oppose Amendment 4
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the anti-abortion advocate the Los Angeles Times called “perhaps more than any other woman … responsible for the fall of Roe v. Wade,” is now leading a political committee formed to oppose Amendment 4, the proposed constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to abortion in Florida.
Poll: 67% of Florida women support a nationwide right to abortion
By Christopher O’Donnell, Tampa Bay Times
Two-thirds of Florida women of reproductive age would support a nationwide right to abortion, including roughly half of those who identify as Republican, a new survey found.
Abortion rights advocates look to Florida schools to rally support for Amendment 4
By Gabrielle Russon, Florida Politics
Reproductive rights advocates are setting up tents on college quads across Florida to build momentum for November’s election as college students return to classes this Fall.
Costs and desperation are up, donations are running low as more Florida women travel for abortion services
By Cindy Krischer Goodman, South Florida Sun Sentinel
In a small abortion clinic in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the phone rings continuously, women flood the waiting room, and cruise ship staff come looking for care.
Abortion funds say they need more money as Florida’s law fuels demand for help
By Stephanie Colombini, WUSF Tampa
Getting an abortion can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, especially if travel is involved.
New state data reveals sharp decline in Florida abortion procedures
By Stefany Valderrama, WPEC West Palm Beach
It has been more than 100 days since the 6-week abortion ban went into effect in Florida.
DeSantis appoints ‘pro-life’ radiologist to the Florida Board of Medicine
By McKenna Schueler, Orlando Weekly
As abortion rights advocates in Florida step up their campaign for a November ballot measure that would strengthen abortion rights in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis once again on Friday showed residents exactly which side he’s on.
Wasserman Schulz points to Florida as warning about Project 2025 abortion ban plans at DNC
By C. A. Bridges, USA Today Network-Florida
On every night of the Democratic National Convention, speakers have held up a giant book labeled “Project 2025” and read excerpts of the proposed directions from the Heritage Foundation for a conservative president to drastically overhaul the federal government.
Orlando nonprofit uses lessons from Europe for reducing maternal mortality
Staff Report, Associated Press
Midwife Jennie Joseph touched Husna Mixon’s pregnant belly, turned to the 7-year-old boy in the room with them and asked: “Want to help me check the baby?”
Planned Parenthood clinics offering IV sedation for painful IUD procedures
By Joe Mario Pedersen, Central Florida Public Media
Orlando’s Planned Parenthood clinic is offering pain-relieving medication for those seeking placement of an intrauterine device for contraception.
At Democratic Convention, these women showed why voters must end Florida’s abortion ban
Editorial, Miami Herald
Imagine if Florida lawmakers had paid attention to the women who have suffered because of anti-abortion policies.
National
Women imperiled by abortion bans take center stage at the DNC
By Elisha Brown, Florida Phoenix
Most major party leaders who took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, mentioned that Vice President Kamala Harris would work to restore federal abortion rights if elected president.
Related: Abortion is front and center at the DNC — and the message is about freedom
Kamala Harris put abortion at the center of the election. What her California record shows
By Kristen Hwang, States Newsroom
Kamala Harris has a long record of supporting abortion rights in California.
Mobile abortion clinics are an “ingenious” solution to the post-Dobbs landscape
By Nicole Karlis, Salon
As the Democratic National Convention takes place in Chicago, delegates and attendees don’t only have the opportunity to participate in ceremonial political traditions — but they can also get a free vasectomy or medication abortion.
Abortion rights will be on the AZ ballot after Supreme Court rejects challenge from foes
By Gloria Rebecca Gomez, States Newsroom
Arizona voters will have the final say on whether abortion should be a right in the Grand Canyon State in November after the Arizona Supreme Court shot down a last-chance attempt from abortion foes to prevent the question from appearing on the ballot.
Paperwork errors will keep proposed Arkansas abortion amendment off ballot
By Tess Vrbin, States Newsroom
A proposed abortion-rights amendment to the Arkansas Constitution will not be on the statewide November ballot, the state Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision Thursday.
Letters to the editor
Vote yes on Amendment 4
By Kathleen Callard, RNBS, North Fort Myers, Naples Daily News
I was relieved when in 1973, Roe v Wade was passed by the Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional. As a young RN, my nursing care of women who had a non-medical abortion, I have taken care of women who had coat hanger or chemical abortions before Roe v Wade. My granddaughter has fewer health care options than I had. I want doctors, nurses, and hospitals to be able to save the life of my granddaughter…Vote yes on Amendment 4!
Keep abortion private, nonpartisan
By Jeanne Goldberg, M.D., Bonita Springs, League of Women Voters of Lee County, Fort Myers News-Press
Ironically, the Collier County resolution states that Amendment Four would be “detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare” of the citizens of Collier County and Florida. Statements about abortions being allowed until the time of birth and abortions causing breast cancer, for example, are patently false. In fact, the current near total abortion ban is detrimental, placing women’s lives at risk, not only banning abortion but also resulting in fewer cancer screenings and critical health care.
A spurious cost estimate
By Don Korman, Plantation, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Excerpt: On the ballot, the amendment will include a short explanation of its financial impact. Such an explanation is normally produced by nonpartisan experts, who decided that the amendment’s cost was unclear. DeSantis rejected that conclusion, reconfigured the panel and appointed Michael New of The Catholic University of America, who opposes birth control. The Republican Legislature added Rachel Greszler of the Heritage Foundation, a contributor to Project 2025, which advocates an abortion ban. These anti-abortion hard-liners attempt to gaslight the public with a spurious cost estimate full of unlikely what-ifs, which dramatically exaggerates the cost of the amendment.
Related: Abortion impact statement deceives voters
Mind your own business, Governor
By Gail Schorr, Boca Raton, South Florida Sun Sentinel
On the subject of Gov. Ron DeSantis working to defeat Amendment 4, the abortion rights initiative, he said: “We’re here because the majority of the Florida Supreme Court was derelict in their duties. They did not have the courage to do what was right because they would have been criticized for nixing this. “They caved,” DeSantis said, as quoted by the Tampa Bay Times. No, Governor. We’re here because you think you have the right to tell women what to do with their bodies. To quote the next vice president, Tim Walz: “Mind your own damn business.”
Florida leaders hate women
By Alison Ward Melbourne, Orlando Sentinel
Excerpt: Another article shares the pain and struggles of women who learn they are more then six weeks pregnant, the timeline our state legislators and governor have decreed that we are “allowed” to receive a safe abortion (“Shock, frustration, anger, desperation: The real-life toll of Florida’s six-week abortion ban”). Women have no choice but to carry a child they may not be able to afford, in a state where the governor refuses federal money for the healthcare and the feeding of its low income families?
Women have common sense
By Heidi Davis, Clearwater, Tampa Bay Times
John Stemberger’s column on Amendment 4 was filled with hyperbole. He insists that the language in this proposed amendment is vague and will lead to abortions taking place at inappropriate venues such as massage therapists’ and acupuncturists’ offices. I am fairly certain women can be trusted to not have an abortion at a massage therapist’s office, just like they do not try to have Pap smears at an acupuncturist’s office. This is taking the term “healthcare provider” to an absurd degree. Likewise, the term “viability” is already defined in the Florida Statute, and one need only look it up to see the definition.
Related: Ignoring critical facts
Related: Obscuring reality