Florida voters rejected ballot measures Tuesday to protect abortion rights and legalize marijuana, handing victories to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who used state resources and campaigned heavily to defeat the issues.
The abortion measure would have prevented lawmakers from passing any law that penalized, prohibited, delayed or restricts abortion until fetal viability, which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks. The state’s restrictive six-week abortion law still stands. Florida is one of the first states to reject abortion rights in a ballot measure since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The marijuana measure would have allowed people 21 years old and older to possess about 3 ounces of marijuana, and it would have allowed businesses already growing and selling medical marijuana to sell it to them. This vote came at a time when federal officials are moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
The ballot measures needed approval from at least 60% of voters. In other states, abortion rights helped drive turnout and were a leading issue that allowed Democrats to retain multiple Senate seats in 2022.
DeSantis and other state leaders spent months campaigning against the measures. Democrats heavily campaigned in support of both issues, hoping to inspire party supporters to the polls. Republican have a 1 million-voter registration edge over Democrats.
Among DeSantis’ arguments against the marijuana initiative is that it would have hurt the state’s tourism because of a weed stench in the air. But other Republican leaders, including Florida resident Donald Trump and former state GOP Chairman Sen. Joe Gruters, supported legalizing recreational marijuana.
Trump went back and forth on how he would vote on the state’s abortion rights initiative before finally saying he would oppose it.
“Despite relentless government sabotage, the state's promotion of disinformation, and, anti-democratic attacks, the majority of Floridians still voted for Amendment 4,"said Lauren Brenzel, Campaign Director of Yes on 4, in a statement.
"The people have spoken and have sent a clear mandate to the legislature: repeal Florida’s extreme ban," Brenzel said. "Today’s results are evidence of the strong support for abortion access in Florida and only fuels our resolve to keep fighting government interference."
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, in a statement, blasted DeSantis for a “full-fledged assault against the truth and a brazen misuse of state power and resources.”
“Ron used the full weight of the government to spread doubt and undermine confidence in the amendment, holding daily press conferences, spending millions to run illegal, taxpayer-funded attack ads and deploying the state’s elections police to knock on people’s doors and intimidate voters,” she said.
“Though the amendment did not meet the high threshold to pass, the majority of Floridians are still opposed to Florida’s extreme abortion ban and the legislature has an obligation to respect the will of the people and act — repeal this extreme ban. If they don’t, it is up to Congress to restore reproductive freedom nationwide.”
In a statement, Florida Voice for the Unborn founder and executive director Andrew Shirvell, applauded the defeat of Amendment 4, and called on DeSantis and the Florida Legislature to make the state “abortion-free.”
“Florida Voice for the Unborn is exceedingly pleased that Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida finally stepped-up to the plate and took a long-awaited firm stance in support of Florida’s unborn children during the campaign to defeat Amendment 4,” he said.
“Now is the time to build upon Florida’s Heartbeat Protection Law and end the killing of Florida’s preborn children once and for all,” he added. “The only realistic way to ensure that Florida becomes totally abortion-free is for the Legislature to pass complete legal protections for unborn children, from the moment of conception.”
WLRN News Staff contributed to this story.
