ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — An amendment limiting the government's power to limit or ban abortion access in Florida has enough signatures to qualify for the 2024 ballot, according to the measure's sponsors.
Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) says it is on track to submit 1.4 million signed petitions by the end of 2023. On Tuesday, campaign organizers posted the news on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, "We are on track to submit 1.4 million petitions by the end of the year, surpassing our initial goal of 1.25 million signatures! So what happens next?"
FPF says its goal is to submit as many petitions as possible by Dec. 31 to the state. The campaign notes that "nothing is official until the state certifies our qualification."
The filed amendment aims to prevent the government from imposing limits or bans on abortion before fetus viability or when medically necessary. The ballot summary says it wouldn't change the law requiring "notification of a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion."
FPF filed the "Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion" earlier this year and it was approved back in May. If it makes the ballot as is, the following text will appear for voters in 2024:
"Limiting government interference with abortion.— Except as provided in Article X, Section 22, no law 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."
According to the Florida Division of Elections, there are 753,771 valid signatures currently on file with the state. A total of 891,523 signatures are needed statewide to make the ballot. The elections division updates its valid signatures total every Friday, according to FPF.
But the measure needs more than just the total number of signatures — of those signatures, at least 8 percent of voters in at least half of Florida's congressional districts must make up that total. The deadline for signatures is Feb. 1, 2024.
Last month, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody asked the state Supreme Court to keep the proposed amendment off the ballot, the Associated Press said. The law Gov. Ron DeSantis approved last year banning abortion after 15 weeks is being challenged in court.
