DeSantis: Florida abortion rights amendment ‘built on fraud’
ORLANDO, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis believes the proposed amendment that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution was “built on fraud,” from the petition collection process to how the ballot measure was written.
DeSantis defended the state’s election police against criticism of their investigation into potential petition fraud in a news conference Monday.
ACLU responds to Florida’s Amendment 4 petition investigation
“What’s going on with this petition stuff, it’s just become a cottage industry of nonsense,” DeSantis said. “You know, you’re having petitions that are being submitted and voters are saying, ‘I never signed that.’ How does that happen?”
DeSantis stated that the election crimes unit conducted a thorough investigation of the petition process and referred the “appropriate” cases to local law enforcement, but the full extent of the alleged fraud “remains to be seen.”
“There’s a lot of money that’s at stake here,” DeSantis said. “People make money off the petition process. There’s an incentive to commit fraud.”
The ACLU of Florida said the group behind Amendment 4, Floridians Protecting Freedom, sorted out questionable petitions during the ballot collection process, but was still required to submit them to state officials. The ACLU is also suing the state after Florida’s health agency created a website urging voters to help defeat the citizen-led amendment.
After addressing the petition investigation, the governor claimed the entirety of Amendment 4 was “built on fraud.” He reiterated issues the state brought before the Florida Supreme Court during the judicial review process, claiming that the ballot summary is misleading.
Earlier this year, the DeSantis-stacked court determined that the ballot summary is not misleading to voters and was eligible to appear on the ballot. A Republican-dominated panel later used a procedural process, the crafting of a financial impact statement, to add language that advocates fear will dissuade voters from voting “yes” on the amendment.
DeSantis claimed that if Amendment 4 passes, a non-physician would be able to perform an abortion “up until the moment of birth” and the amendment would “strip the rights of parents” to give their consent for a minor having an abortion.
The ballot summary says that no law should restrict the right to an abortion “before viability.” It also reads, in part, “This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
DeSantis called this “a bait and switch.”
“They write in the summary, ‘notification,’ but that’s not consent,” DeSantis said. “Understand, that’s rolling back rights for parents in the state of Florida.”
DeSantis took issue with the phrase “healthcare provider” in the ballot summary, claiming that non-physicians would be able to approve abortion procedures and “create a lot of bootleg abortion clinics around the state.”
“Remember, we’re in a region of the country where every state that borders us has very strong pro-life legislation,” DeSantis said. “You’re going to have people coming and there’s going to be a lot of people taking advantage. People are going to make money off of this.”
He also warned the amendment, as written, would open up the state to lawsuits over taxpayer-funded abortions, citing a Michigan lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s ban on taxpayer-funded abortions for low-income residents. Proponents of the Michigan lawsuit claim the law cannot stand after voters approved an abortion rights amendment in 2022.
DeSantis argued that “the bar” to amend the state’s constitution needs to be high and voters should strike down any amendment in the face of uncertainty.
Proponents of Amendment 4 have maintained that the ballot summary is not misleading and voters have a common understanding of terms like “healthcare provider” and “viability.”
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