The complete text of Amendment 4:
Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion
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.
Florida’s current abortion ban has already had serious impacts. These are only a few of the stories.
Dr. Goodman is a respected Florida OB/GYN for 50 years speaking out against the state’s extreme abortion ban and urging voters to support Amendment 4 this November.
“As a doctor, I’m committed to saving lives, but Florida’s extreme abortion ban ties my hands and puts lives at risk. Imagine telling a woman I can’t help her until she’s on the brink of death – all because politicians are making medical decisions. It’s outrageous, it’s dangerous, and it’s wrong. I’m voting Yes on 4 to put patients’ health and safety back where it belongs – in the hands of doctors, not the government.”
Two friends, Anya Cook and Shanae Smith-Cunningham, coincidentally shared the horrifying experience of having their water break too early in their pregnancies. Both women’s doctors said they weren’t able induce labor to end the pregnancies, even though there was no chance their babies would survive. Instead the women were left to deal with the complications of their miscarriages on their own. Anya was forced to deliver her dead fetus alone in a bathroom at work, and she nearly died from the blood loss. Both women were subjected to unimaginable trauma and their lives were needlessly put at risk because of Florida’s abortion ban.
Deborah Dorbert and her husband were devastated when they learned that her pregnancy wasn’t viable due to a diagnosis of Potter’s syndrome. Deborah asked to terminate the pregnancy but her doctors and their lawyers declined, fearful they would run afoul of the state’s 15-week abortion ban. Without any other feasible options, she and her family spent more than three months waiting for the birth and death of her child.
Deborah Dorbert and her husband were devastated when they learned that her pregnancy wasn’t viable due to a diagnosis of Potter’s syndrome. Deborah asked to terminate the pregnancy but her doctors and their lawyers declined, fearful they would run afoul of the state’s 15-week abortion ban. Without any other feasible options, she and her family spent more than three months waiting for the birth and death of her child.
Anabely Lopes was 15-weeks along in a pregnancy she deeply wanted when testing showed her fetus had the genetic condition Trisomy 18. Her doctor explained that most babies diagnosed with the condition die before they are born or within 5 to 15 days after birth due to severe defects. Anabely had to travel from Florida to Washington to get the abortion care she needed.
About Floridians Protecting Freedom
Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) is a statewide campaign of allied organizations and concerned citizens working together to limit government interference with abortion. We recognize that all Floridians deserve the freedom to make personal medical decisions, free of government intrusion. Our citizen-led ballot initiative, the “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion,” seeks to remove politicians from these decisions by creating a constitutional amendment that explicitly blocks the implementation of laws that prohibit, delay, or restrict abortion access.