Many Floridians are in the dark about the state's six-week abortion ban going into effect this month, Democrats said at a press conference.
"Most people don't know, but this not knowing is going to have a forever impact on people's lives," said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried.
Fried and other Democratic leaders spoke at a virtual press conference that centered around the upcoming Amendment 4 November ballot question on abortion rights.
Florida's 15-week abortion ban was replaced with the six-week ban as of May 1. Abortion rights advocates argue that many women don't even realize they are pregnant at six weeks, so the new policy feels like a total ban.
"We're going have to continue telling these stories from every advocate to every elected official, to the media. We're going to have to keep talking about it to make sure that more and more people are hearing it," Fried said on the call.
Democratic Rep. Johanna López of Orlando said Democratic leaders need to get the message by word of mouth and social media.
"We know the culture of our district," said López, who is Puerto Rican. "We have to talk with our constituents. We have to use our native language."
But Laurie Plotnick, President of the Democratic Senior Caucus of Florida, argued that the abortion rights issue is already firing up people across the state. She pointed to the grassroots campaign that helped put Amendment 4 on the ballot in the first place.
"Let's not lose the fact that we collected over a million signatures when it was a 15-week abortion ban. ... So we already have people that are good and angry," Plotnick said. "I remember how monumental getting it on the ballot was. We did it. Now we have to give updates on it."
A poll released last week by the Florida Chamber of Commerce showed Amendment 4 has enough support to pass. with 61% of support. The poll, however, also had a margin error of +/- 4 percentage points.
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