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State leaders are fighting abortion rights in Florida and across the country.
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State leaders are fighting abortion rights in Florida and across the country.

Florida is among 10 states deciding abortion initiatives in Tuesday’s elections, an unprecedented event following the end of Roe v. Wade.

Voting is taking place in battleground states such as Arizona and Nevada, blue states such as New York, and red states including Nebraska and South Dakota. Abortion is also on the ballot in Colorado, Maryland, Missouri and Montana.

Most of the initiatives, including Florida’s, would amend the state constitution to allow abortion until fetal viability, which is generally considered around 24 weeks, or later in cases to save the mother’s life.

But Florida Amendment 4 stands out for the challenges it faces, he stated Chris Melody Campos Figueredo. Campos Figueredo is Executive Director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Centera progressive group involved in nationwide ballot measures.

None of the other states require a supermajority to pass, Fields Figueredo said, but Florida requires 60% support.

Polls show a majority of Floridians support Amendment 4. But the question of whether the measure can cross the 60% threshold won’t be answered until the votes are counted.

Fields Figueredo called the governor. Ron DeSantis Opposition to Amendment 4 is “authoritarian,” as DeSantis uses state resources to campaign against it.

“We have seen attempts by the state government “We tried to stop these reproductive freedom ballot measures, but Florida is really taking it to another level,” Fields Figueredo said.

Election police knocked on the doors of a small number of people who signed the petition to get on the ballot, according to media reports, in an effort to investigate claims of voter fraud.

The latest episode of state involvement is the sending of the DeSantis administration cease and desist letters to television stations a month before the elections threatening criminal prosecution for publishing an advertisement in favor of abortion rights. A judge later quashed the effort, extend a temporary restraining order after Election Day to prevent the state from making further threats.

But the view of state leaders opposing abortion rights initiatives is not unique to Florida, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, who followed such efforts in this election cycle.

For example, the Arizona State Supreme Court allowed the state’s Republican-controlled Legislative Council to to send advertisements that refer to fetuses as “unborn human beings.”

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen tried to keep abortion rights off the ballot because argued the initiative was legally insufficient. Montana Secretary of State christina jacobsen also sought to change the electoral rules to disqualify signature petitions from inactive registered voters. However, the Montana Supreme Court overturned the decision of both state leaders.

Knudsen I also tried to add a disclaimer. in electoral language. But again, the state’s highest court ruled against him.

In Florida, Amendment 4 will include a “financial impact statement” written by The DeSantis administration and a representative from the Heritage Foundation. Floridians Protecting Freedom, the political committee supporting Amendment 4, lost its legal fight to throw the warning off the ballot.

Missouri Lawmakers and Abortion Advocates Failed tried to take the initiative off the ballot.

Abortion advocates too filed a lawsuit to challenge the validity of petition signatures in South Dakota.

In Florida’s Orange County, anti-abortion rights activists sued last month challenge Tuesday’s election results if Amendment 4 passes.

As in Florida, Nebraska voters are deciding whether to protect abortion until the fetus is viable. But there is a twist. In the same election, Nebraska voters will decide whether to ban second- and third-trimester abortion after lawmakers added a second competing initiative to the ballot.

“It is already confusing voters”Figueredo said of the tactic.


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