Two months from the November election, the abortion rights ballot initiative campaign is launching a multimillion-dollar statewide ad campaign telling voters that Florida's current six-week abortion ban is too extreme.
"Before many women know they're pregnant, before their first appointment, before a doctor can see anything on an ultrasound, this is when government in Florida has banned abortion — an extreme ban with no real exceptions, not for her health, not even for rape," the 30-second advertisement said. "That's why Florida must vote 'yes' on 4 to stop the dangerous ban, because government will never know better than a woman and her doctor."
The ads are airing in "the most populated TV markets in the state" as well as online platforms, the campaign said Tuesday.
Amendment 4 seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. To pass, it needs at least 60% of the vote.
Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind Amendment 4, has raised $48 million and spent $26 million since April 2023. The organization has been fueled by both grassroots support as well as by progressive groups and health care providers like Planned Parenthood.
Fighting against the abortion rights measure is Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration.
A state government health agency launched a website in opposition to Amendment 4. According to media reports, some Florida residents said election police knocked on their doors to investigate whether petitions they signed to help put the abortion rights on the ballot were fraudulent.
DeSantis said there have been signatures collected on behalf of dead people and signatures that didn't match their voter registration.
"Our tolerance in the state of Florida for any type of election related fraud is zero. We are not going to put up with it," DeSantis said Monday.
Democrats accused DeSantis of going on a witch hunt and inappropriately using state taxpayer resources against the ballot initiative.
The abortion rights campaign knows it needs support from both Democrats and Republicans to pass in what's expected to be a tight election. Campaign leaders have said that Amendment 4 is a health care issue, not a political one.
"The bottom line is, the Florida government is trying to decide what you should do with your body, not you," said Lauren Brenzel, Campaign Director for the Yes on 4 campaign. "This multi-million dollar paid media campaign will remind Floridians — who supported this amendment across party lines — that the State is meddling with our personal decisions and make clear what is at stake and how the current abortion ban is greatly harming the lives of many Floridians."
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