With days until Election Day, groups make final push for Florida's abortion rights ballot measure

MIAMI — Since Florida banned abortion past six weeks of pregnancy in May, around 700 women sought care at Planned Parenthood’s Miami office only to find out it was too late, according to the organization. Some went to other states to end their pregnancies. Others didn’t have that choice.

One of the more dramatic cases involved a cancer patient who had to stop chemotherapy when she found out she was over six weeks pregnant.

Because of what she has seen, Dr. Chelsea Daniels, a physician with Planned Parenthood, is one of those at the forefront of advocating for a ballot measure known as Amendment 4 that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

“Blood, sweat and tears have gone into this, and it needs to pass for the sake of my community and the sake of my patients,” Daniels said, as she choked up. “The reality of the ban that we’re living under is so cruel and extreme.”

Abortions had been allowed in Florida up to 24 weeks of pregnancy until the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in 2022. It was restricted to 15 weeks in July of that year and then banned after six weeks on May 1. If Amendment 4 passes, it would guarantee the right to abortion before fetal viability, or about 24 weeks.

Groups in favor of the ballot measure are making a final push as early voting is underway, with hundreds of thousands of ballots already cast.

A volunteer with "Yes on 4" prepares handout materials in Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 6.Octavio Jones / AFP via Getty Images file

While abortion rights have won in all seven states — both Democratic and Republican — that have had ballot measures since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Florida's amendment faces a unique hurdle. The state requires that all ballot amendments get 60% voter approval. While some states, like California and Vermont, passed abortion rights ballot measures by well over 60%, in other states, such as Michigan and Ohio, they passed by about 56%.

Some public opinion polls have cast doubt on whether Florida's measure can pass, especially as the state has become more Republican in recent years.

“If Florida were practically any other state in the union, it would pass comfortably because it’s definitely going to get well above a majority level of support,” said Fernand Amandi, a Democratic consultant and pollster in Miami. “The problem here in Florida is that the threshold is 60%.”

Some of the main opposition to Amendment 4 is coming from Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration, who have ramped up efforts in recent weeks against the amendment.

The state Department of Health sent cease-and-desist letters to multiple broadcast stations that were running an ad supporting Amendment 4, saying it posed a public health “nuisance” and warning of criminal charges if the stations didn’t stop airing the ad.

A federal judge blocked the state's surgeon general from threatening the TV stations, stating it's free speech and Florida produced its own campaign opposing the abortion rights ballot initiative, so demanding the removal of opposing ads amounted to censorship.

“You even have the governor going so far as to violate the law and the Constitution to try and prevent entities from putting on television advertisements in favor of the amendment in Florida, which shows you how dug in he is to prevent this from happening at all,” Amandi said.

In an interview with NBC News, Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, who opposes the ballot measure, accused the abortion rights ads of being deceptive.

"What we're opposed to is a campaign of deception and lies, flat-out lies," Nuñez said. "And so I think that there has been a lot of discussion around how TV stations could know full well that they're running ads based on lies, and what the ramifications are for that. They're lying to voters."

Nuñez referred to the fact that the abortion ban states there are exceptions, including for the life of the mother, and one ad featured a woman with brain cancer who said Florida has banned abortions "even in cases like mine." Critics of the state's abortion ban say the current law makes it difficult to prove the exceptions and that it deters doctors, who face a felony crime and jail time, from providing the necessary care, as doctors and clinicians detailed in a recent report by Physicians for Human Rights. For rape or incest, Florida requires women file a police report first and submit that to the doctor before being able to access an abortion by 15 weeks. Nationally, more than 2 out of 3 sexual assaults are not reported, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, or RAINN.

The Florida Department of State’s Office of Election Crimes and Security also released a report making fraud accusations against some workers who collected signatures for the abortion initiative. And one state agency that regulates health care providers, including abortion clinics, launched a website last month opposing the ballot measure.

Asked about the website, Nuñez said, "State agencies run public service ads all the time. Department of Transportation, for example, they're constantly running ads encouraging people to drive sober."

DeSantis and Nuñez, in their official capacity, have been making appearances to campaign against the amendment.

Some didn't know about the abortion ban

Those advocating for Amendment 4 say they’re optimistic it will pass.

The “Yes on 4” campaign has knocked on over 600,000 doors, made more than 500,000 phone calls, and sent over 4 million text messages, according to a campaign spokesperson.

One of the biggest challenges organizers faced early on was that many voters did not know abortion had been restricted in Florida. Most voters have caught up since then, especially since ads were launched in September.

An ad featured a woman who was told when she was 23 weeks pregnant that her baby had a condition and wouldn't survive after birth; she said that because of Florida's abortion ban she had to carry her pregnancy to 37 weeks and the baby died shortly after birth.

“We are still trying to teach people what the actual policy is,” said Lauren Brenzel, campaign director of the “Yes on 4” ballot initiative. “And even people who know about the ban might not realize that there’s actually no workable exceptions for things like rape, incest or health of a woman.”

Mi Vecino, a group focused on voter education and mobilization in Latino areas in south and central Florida, said over 70% of the people it reaches out to are now aware the amendment is on the ballot.

The organization said it has knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors and made hundreds of thousands of calls.

“There’s high awareness of the ballot measure. People understand Amendment 4 is on the ballot,” said Alex Berrios, co-founder of the group. “But they don’t necessarily connect that there’s a six-week abortion ban.”