Former Florida GOP elected officials support letting voters decide on abortion

Ten former Florida Republican elected officials in Florida – including former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll – have signed on to a legal brief supporting giving voters the decision power on whether a right to abortion should be enshrined in the state's constitution.

In the wake of Ohio voters last week approving a similar amendment there, and related victories in deep-red Kansas, Montana and Kentucky, the group here filed their brief late Friday in support of the "Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion."

Attorney General Ashley Moody is seeking to bar it from next November's statewide ballot. The brief would have Moody, also a Republican, explain her opposition to the ballot initiative that would enable voters – not lawmakers – to shape and define the state’s abortion policy.

Moody and others have urged the Florida Supreme Court to strike the proposal because, they say, the ballot summary is unclear and that the language violates a single-topic requirement.

But the brief cites seven court cases and three provisions of the Florida Constitution to make a case that Moody’s arguments lack merit and discount the state’s obligation and tradition to “welcome the input of the people in the lawmaking process.”

At the same time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called out Republicans for failing to defeat abortion initiatives in Republican-led states. “You got to do a better job on these referenda,” he said in last Wednesday’s GOP candidate debate in Miami.

DeSantis said the pro-life cause has been caught flat-footed on abortion referendums and told NBC News the “pro-life movement has got to start keying in on these referenda. They have been getting their clock cleaned.”

Along with Carroll, who served under Gov. Rick Scott 2011-13, former state Sens. Paula Bono Dockery and Dennis Jones and state Reps. Ray Pilon and Juan-Carlos Planas also signed on to the brief.

The others are former Manatee County Commissioners Elizabeth Benac, Misty Servia and Carolyn Whitmore; former Miami Shores Mayor Alice Burch and former Key Biscayne Mayor Mayra Lindsay.

One former official said to let women individually decide on abortion

Pilon, who represented Sarasota County 2012-16, told the USA TODAY Network-Florida that moderate Republicans have constitutional and political concerns about the GOP abortion policy and Moody's argument in opposition.

“Republican women and Republican women’s clubs that I talk to say, ‘stay out of my life, let us decide,’ ” Pilon said in a phone interview.

The brief argues the ballot-initiative process is the most legitimate way for citizens to establish a contested right.

And given a pathway the court established in previous challenges, including a solar energy proposal, the brief states it would be “unreasonable” to accept Moody's position that the summary is defective because the word “viability” would confuse voters, and that the term “government interference” is political and inflammatory.

In her own brief, Moody argues the measure does not specify if it means “viability” as it is commonly understood or in a clinical sense.

Under the landmark federal Roe v. Wade decision that was overturned last year, fetal viability – the ability to survive outside the womb – generally meant 23-24 weeks into a pregnancy. Since then, states have been free to decide their own laws on abortion.

The state's Supreme Court is now considering a challenge to a measure passed by the Legislature and signed by DeSantis to ban abortions after 15 weeks. And still another measure passed earlier this year would set the limit at six weeks.

While he notes that appearances can be deceiving, Pilon concedes that it appears Moody or her staff is either unaware of the previous court rulings or the state’s political tradition.

"I'd be very interested to see what the comment is from that office," Pilon said. "But the issue appears to be that no matter what she says or what the challenge says, she’s supporting the governor in his 15 week (ban). I like the 15 weeks, but they don’t want it to go any further. They don’t want it to go to the people."

The Supreme Court reviews proposed ballot initiatives and can reject initiatives if the language is unclear or if they are not limited to a single subject.

If the Court clears the initiative for ballot placement, backers will have to meet a February deadline to submit 891,000 signed petitions to secure a ballot spot. As of Nov. 13, the state has verified 491,892 signatures.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and is on X as @CallTallahassee

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida abortion amendment draws support from GOP former officials