On Roe's 51st anniversary, abortion amendment is pending Florida Supreme Court review

Abortion-rights advocates marked the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision Monday hoping Florida voters will get a chance to restore unfettered reproductive rights this year.

While the landmark Roe ruling was overturned in June 2022, a broad network of organizations said it is closing in on placing a statewide constitutional amendment on Florida's ballot this November.

Anne Hochkammer of the Florida Women's Freedom Coalition said she believes "Floridians are motivated by the same issues that other states are," like abortion. She said abortion has also been on the ballot in other states since the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe, and each time abortion rights have won.

"Abortion is a winning issue across the United States, and it will be a winning issue in Florida as well," Hochkammer said.

The amendment sponsored by Floridians Protecting Freedom, a coalition of statewide organizations, is meant to "limit government interference with abortion" banning or striking down any Florida law that shall "prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health" as "determined by the patient's healthcare provider."

The proposed amendment needed just over 891,000 verified signatures statewide to be considered for the ballot, and the state elections office reported on its website that more than 972,000 have been turned in so far.

The next step is for the amendment's ballot language to go before the Florida Supreme Court to be evaluated on the single-issue topic test as well as clarity. The review is scheduled for Feb. 7.

If approved, Florida might join two other states, New York and Maryland, which currently have abortion-related ballot amendments that will be voted on in November. Aside from Florida, 10 other states are in the process of getting an abortion-related ballot amendment for the general election as well.

Other states have already acted to safeguard abortion rights or reject bans and stringent restrictions. Voters in California voted to uphold abortion rights as an individual freedom, while those in Kansas rejected measures that would have decreased state abortion rights.

Will the amendment on the ballot boost turnout for Democrats?

Florida Democrats have been closely watching the amendment's progress.

Democrats across the state, and the country, made defense of abortion rights a central focus of their campaigns in 2022. They say an amendment on the state ballot this year will help drive turnout.

"I think it will be a high motivating factor," U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a Democrat who represents West Palm Beach in the U.S. House, said of the ballot amendment. "People want freedom to make those kinds of decisions. They don't want politicians deciding when you should grow a family or start a family."

Abortion amendment: Abortion-rights activists say they've reached signature goals for a ballot amendment

In fact, abortion as a campaign issue may have been pivotal in a Florida House special election on Jan. 16. Tom Keen, a Democratic candidate in Central Florida, flipped a red state House district in focusing his campaign on property insurance and abortion rights.

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democratic contender seeking to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott this fall, said that it's important to vote for Democrats in the general election regardless of the outcome of the amendment. Even if Florida voters approve the abortion amendment, she said, Scott could still push for a national abortion ban if he is re-elected.

"At the national level, we have extremists like Scott that want to pass a national abortion ban," Mucarsel-Powell said. "We need to protect these rights so that they don't have to do this again, so that women don't have the fear of living in a country where their health care is compromised."

Stephany Matat is a politics reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY-Florida network. Reach her at smatat@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Roe v. Wade anniversary: Florida abortion amendment awaits court review