Here's what you need to know about the abortion amendment on the November ballot
MIAMI - This November, voters in Florida will decide on two issues outside of the races for president and senate. They will decide if recreational use of marijuana should be legal in Florida. They will also decide the future of abortion in the state.
Right now, abortion is illegal after 15 weeks. As of May 1st, abortion will be illegal after six weeks. The amendment voters will be deciding on, will focus on viability, not a number of weeks.
The "Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion" states:
"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."
Governor Ron DeSantis called the amendment radical at a news conference in South Florida on April 4th, saying "The abortion is like a California abortion, overrides our parental consent laws. Very, very extreme in a number of ways." His message, one that's being carried by other republicans in Tallahassee. Florida Speaker of the House, Paul Renner said "This amendment goes far, far beyond where most Floridians would land on the issue and is extreme in its scope."
There is expected to be campaigning on both sides of the issue from now through November. We asked our Jim DeFede about the messaging surrounding the ballot amendment. "On the Republican side, it's clear that this is going to be a campaign that's largely going to be about fear. They are going to try to paint this as the most radical and extreme measure as possible. And you know, even though the facts don't necessarily support that, I think that is the type of campaign that they are going to be running."
We also asked him what voters should keep in mind throughout the campaign. "I think really when it comes down to it, this amendment isn't very complicated to think about. You can basically decide, do you want to go back to the way things were when Roe was still law of the land? Basically, do you want to go back to a 24-week cut-off period for abortion? That's what this is. If you support a 24-week, cut-off period for abortion, then you should vote yes on the amendment. If you don't, then vote no."
CBS News Miami will stay on top of the issue through the November election.
