Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • The full PUMP Act is now in effect. Here’s what it does for lactating parents.

        Chabeli Carrazana · April 28
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: How to ease the ‘loneliness epidemic’ and social isolation among older adults

        Sara Luterman · April 24
      • The 19th Explains: Who will be most impacted by Medicaid changes — and when

        Rebekah Barber · March 28
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Ranked-choice voting is gaining momentum. So are efforts to stop it.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 24
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

A person in a crowd holds a sign in support of abortion access.
An abortion rights activist holds a sign at a protest in support of abortion access on July 13, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (John Parra/Getty Images/MoveOn)

Abortion

Florida advocates set to launch campaign to get abortion rights on the ballot in 2024

Supporters will be racing against the clock to get enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot. Then, the campaign will need to mobilize Democrats and rope in independents and moderate Republicans.

Mel Leonor Barclay

Politics Reporter

Headshot of Mel Leonor Barclay

Published

2023-05-05 10:42
10:42
May 5, 2023
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Show your support for news that represents you. Donate today.

A coalition of abortion rights advocates in Florida is set to push a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion protections into the state’s constitution, with the launch of a public campaign to get the issue on the Florida 2024 ballot expected next week. 

The coalition has already filed necessary paperwork with the state to begin collecting signatures and fundraising for the effort, said Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, who first pitched the ballot measure last August. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Fried said the language in the ballot measure would be unveiled in the coming week, but said it would enshrine the right to choose an abortion and reflect survey data showing that 75 percent of Floridians oppose the six-week abortion ban approved by Republican lawmakers last month. The ballot effort was first reported by Politico.

The campaign faces an uphill battle to passage: It’s launching with just nine months to go until the deadline to collect about a million signatures to make the 2024 ballot. 

The time crunch is exacerbated by new restrictions on citizen-led ballot initiatives levied by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature. Among other hurdles, lawmakers upped the vote threshold needed for passage to 60 percent. Republicans are considering proposals to further increase the threshold, which could effectively kneecap the campaign before it even makes the ballot. 

If it passes, the ballot measure would protect abortion access in the nation’s third-largest state and restore some regional access in the South amid ongoing efforts in states including North Carolina to restrict access to the procedure. 

  • The latest in Florida
    Two friends lean on each other during an abortion rights protest in Raleigh, North Carolina.
  • Florida’s new restrictions will chip away at the little abortion access left in the South
  • Florida expands classroom ‘Don’t Say Gay’ restrictions up to 12th grade
  • Florida Democrats can’t stop the GOP right now. But Nikki Fried says they’re willing to fight.

The ballot measure could also be a boon for Florida Democrats, whose abysmal performance in recent elections has dried up donor support and stymied candidate recruitment efforts. Enthusiasm among national and in-state progressive donors could drive funding back into the state and help boost turnout for Democrats. 

The coalition backing the measure includes Planned Parenthood’s Florida affiliates and other groups supporting abortion access. Fried said the campaign will extend beyond Democrats and target independent and Republican voters who oppose Republicans’ recent efforts to restrict the rights of pregnant Floridians. 

There are 10 states where abortion rights are under threat that have a process for citizen-led ballot measures, according to a study out of center-left think tank Third Way. Of those states, three have the greatest likelihood of approving an abortion rights measure: Arizona, Ohio and Florida. 

Lucas Holt, a political analyst with Third Way, pointed to a March poll from the Univeristy of North Florida showing that 75 percent of registered voters oppose the state’s six-week abortion ban, which includes no exceptions for rape or incest. The poll logged opposition among independent voters at 73 percent, among Republicans at 61 percent and among Democrats at 91 percent. The ban is set to go into effect if and when the state Supreme Court upholds an earlier 15-week ban; a ruling is expected this summer. 

A newsletter for the new electorate

Analysis and interviews from Errin Haines, delivered to your inbox every other week.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Organizers behind the ballot measure “would really need to ramp up their efforts, but given large support for legalization and the backlash the GOP is likely to face, I think there’s a likelihood of success,” Holt said. The chances of passage will quickly diminish if state Republican leaders increase the threshold for passage beyond 60 percent. 

The coalition will have until February to collect close to 900,000 valid signatures. Campaigns tend to set their goals above the needed target to avoid falling short over questions of validation. 

“When there’s a will, there’s a way, and that’s what we’re going to be operating under,” Fried said. “Of course, anybody who’s involved in this movement would have loved the language to have been already out there publicly and already been gathering signatures. Every single day that it’s not out, we’re losing opportunities to gather those signatures. But certainly, it is going to be all hands on deck to get the signatures needed.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

Up Next

Peggy Flanagan delivers a speech from a podium after being sworn in.

Politics

For Native women in power in Minnesota, confronting the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people is personal

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, said that more attention to the issue was sparked when Native women won election to decision-making roles.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram