A Florida ballot measure that would have enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution failed after it fell short of 60% support it needed to pass it Tuesday.
Amendment 4, which would have prohibited laws restricting abortion before fetal viability or when necessary to protect a pregnant woman’s health, had 58.4% support with more than 95% of votes counted, according to the AP.
The failure of the constitutional amendment is a major victory for Gov. Ron Desantis, who campaigned against it, and effectively allows for Florida’s current “heartbeat law” that bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy to remain in effect.
Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigned heavily against the measure, which would have created a right to abortion. Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/ShutterstockFlorida was among 10 states that had abortion rights measures on Election Day ballots.
Former President Donald Trump – a Florida resident – has waffled on whether he would vote for or against Amendment 4.
“I think the six weeks is too short. It has to be more time,” Trump told NBC News in August, when asked about the proposed amendment. “I want more weeks.”
“I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” he added.
The following day, the Republican nominee for president told Fox News that he “will be voting no” on Amendment 4 – while maintaining “you need more time than 6 weeks” – because of “radical” states that allow abortion up until the 9th month of pregnancy.
Abortion is on the ballot in nine states, two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. APOn Election Day, Trump dodged answering a reporter’s question on how he voted on the measure.
When pressed, the former president snapped at the reporter: “You should stop talking about it.”
Amendment 4 received about the same amount of popular support in Florida as Ohio’s initiative enshrining abortion protections in the state’s constitution garnered in the Buckeye State last November.
Ohio’s Issue 1, however, only needed a simple majority to pass.
DeSantis signed the Sunshine State’s six-week abortion ban — which allows exceptions to save the mother’s life — into law in April of last year.
Trump, at the time, called DeSantis’ decision to sign the bill into law a “terrible mistake.”
Amendment 4 was among six ballot questions Florida voters took up on Election Day.
A measure legalizing recreational marijuana use in the Sunshine State also failed to pass.
