The Florida Supreme Court announced it will accelerate the resolution of two cases associated with the financial impact statement that is to accompany Amendment 4, a state constitutional amendment proposed by activists seeking unrestricted access to abortion.
The proposed amendment is slated to appear on the ballot in November with a statement regarding its “financial impact” on Florida taxpayers should voters pass it.
Leading the campaign for the ballot initiative related to the proposed amendment is Floridians Protecting Freedom’s political committee, which, as the Tampa Free Press reported Monday, has claimed that the financial impact statement is outdated since it was drafted in November 2023.
The committee argues that since that time the Florida Supreme Court ruled in April that the state’s heartbeat law that protects babies at six weeks of pregnancy may take effect. The pro-abortion group says a revised financial impact statement should reflect the ramifications of the new law.
The financial impact statement, dated July 15, 2024, reads:
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.
Liberty Counsel reported last week that abortion activists want the Florida Supreme Court to have the statement removed from the ballot.
The “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion” ballot summary reads:
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 healthcare 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 amendment would require approval by a 60% majority in order to amend the state constitution, Liberty Counsel notes.
As CatholicVote previously reported, Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie, a Catholic OB/GYN who resides in Florida, wrote last month at Florida’s VOICE that the amendment would allow abortion up until the moment of birth.
Christie said the amendment’s extreme nature is reflected in its vague and undefined language, with terms such as “viability,” “patient’s health,” and “healthcare provider” left to interpretation.
She explained as well that Amendment 4 would place limits on health and safety oversight of abortion facilities in Florida.
“Ensuring that an abortion facility, in which complicated late-term surgical abortions are performed, be regulated as extensively as a colonoscopy center would be outlawed,” she warned. “It would also be impossible to require that their abortionists have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Yet such common-sense facility regulations are crucial for the protection of patients.”
“Amendment 4 is extreme,” agreed Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, adding that voters should be aware of all costs associated with increased abortions in the state:
The financial impact statement is merely a taste of the extreme nature of Amendment 4. Voters should understand that this amendment will not only allow abortion up to birth for any reason, but will force Floridians to pay for abortion, and will place women at extreme risk by overriding every health and safety standard.
