Florida Amendment 4 Comes With Warning: It Will Force You to Fund Abortions

Florida’s Amendment 4, which proposes to codify unrestricted abortion in the state’s constitution, is now slated to come with a financial impact statement on the November ballot. The ballot will contain a brief, 150-word allotted warning about how it will likely cost the state a significant amount of taxpayer dollars. The warning states the amendment may require the state to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions, invalidate parental consent laws, and negatively affect the growth of the Florida budget over time due to less people being born and due to litigation to resolve legal uncertainties.

Florida’s First District Court of Appeal dismissed a legal challenge this week clearing the way for the impact statement, drafted by the state’s Financial Impact Estimating Conference, to go on the ballot.

The statement reads: “The proposed amendment would result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births per year in Florida. The increase in abortions could be even greater if the amendment invalidates laws requiring parental consent before minors undergo abortions and those ensuring only licensed physicians perform abortions. There is also uncertainty about whether the amendment will require the state to subsidize abortions with public funds. Litigation to resolve those and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to the state government and state courts that will negatively impact the state budget. An increase in abortions may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time. Because the fiscal impact of increased abortions on state and local revenues and costs cannot be estimated with precision, the total impact of the proposed amendment is indeterminate.”

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Essentially, the financial impact statement gives voters seven key warnings. The amendment may:

• require the state to pay for abortions with taxpayer dollars.
• increase abortions and decrease live births.
• decrease the population and thereby affecting school funding.
• eliminate parental consent laws.
• eliminate health and safety laws that require only licensed doctors to perform abortions.
• increase litigation that will cost taxpayer dollars to resolve legal uncertainties.
• significantly reduce the number of people being born thus reducing state growth and revenue over time.

Amendment 4 could also render the following Florida statutes as unconstitutional:

• Every law except for parental notification, including health and safety laws.
• The Parental Consent for Abortion Act, which requires physicians to obtain written consent from a parent before performing an abortion on a minor.
• The physician requirement, which allows only licensed physicians to perform abortions.
• Restrictions on taxpayer funding for abortions, which restricts the use of public funds to subsidize abortions, with exceptions for rape, incest, and medical necessity.

Pro-abortion groups have petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to have the statement removed from the ballot. If the state’s High Court agrees to hear the case, Liberty Counsel will file an amicus brief.

On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, Florida voters will have a chance to reject or ratify Amendment 4, which is titled “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion.” Amending the state’s constitution requires approval by a 60 percent majority.

The full text of the ballot summary reads: “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. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”

The “No law shall restrict” language would allow abortion for any reason at any age up to birth, allow abortion to become the only medical procedure minors could get without parental consent, and eliminate health and safety regulations leaving women and girls unprotected. The amendment also provides zero definitions of its key and operative terms, such as “viability,” “health care provider,” and “patient’s health.” The broad language would allow even non-medically trained people to render medical decisions and participate in abortions.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver stated, “Amendment 4 is extreme. The financial impact statement is merely a taste of the extreme nature of Amendment 4. Voters should understand that this amendment will not only allow abortion up to birth for any reason, but will force Floridians to pay for abortion, and will place women at extreme risk by overriding every health and safety standard.”

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