A large group of Florida physicians recently banded together to oppose the state's Amendment 4 proposal and warn voters of its potential impact as it appears on the ballot in November.
Florida's Amendment 4, also known as the Abortion Rights Initiative, is sponsored by the Sarasota-based group Floridians Defending Freedom. The amendment seeks to end the state's six-week ban on abortion by enshrining the right to abortion in the Florida Constitution. Some doctors support the amendment, while others speak out against it.
State doctors who oppose the amendment are primarily concerned by its “vague” language. Dr. Ana Garcia Iguarán, an obstetrician-gynecologist and general practitioner at the Mater Dei Clinic in Ave Maria, said: said The Venice Diocese of Florida argued that the provision was intentionally “misleading” and provided “unlimited and unrestricted access to abortion.” (Related article: “All of that is unacceptable”: President Trump says he will vote for Florida abortion amendment)
“The wording of the amendment is deliberately misleading, to suggest that it provides medical care to pregnant women, and anyone can support it,” Dr. Iguaran said. “Of course, pregnant women need medical care, but that's not what this amendment means or provides. It allows unlimited and unrestricted access to abortions, even for girls, without parental consent. Abortion doesn't make anyone's life better, certainly not the baby's life, and certainly not the mother's.”
Ballot Initiative state “No law may prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict an abortion before viability or when a patient's health care provider determines that such an abortion is necessary to protect the patient's health.”
Dr. Richard Sandler, leader of the Florida Medical Association Against Proposition 4, which includes hundreds of doctors who oppose the amendment, also criticized the amendment as “highly misleading.” According to To Phoenix, Florida.
“It's too brief, too vague, too many terms that aren't defined,” he said. “And there's a lot of money and deception behind it.”
Pro-abortion activists participate in a “Rally for Freedom” to protect Floridians' right to abortion in Orlando, Florida, on April 13, 2024. Florida Rising, Floridians Protecting Freedom, and coalition partners officially launched the “Yes on 4” campaign. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Other doctors in the state have begun to warn of the potential impact on girls. Dr. Steven Hannan, president of the Catholic Medical Association of Southwest Florida, said vague language in the Fourth Amendment requires girls to notify their parents but doesn't completely require parental “consent.”
“Parental notification alone does not require consent, just that the parent has been notified,” Dr. Hannan told the Venice Diocese of Florida. “The ballot outline does not provide a strict standard for notification as proof of parental identity.”
Dr. Karen Liebert, an obstetrician-gynecologist and medical director at the Community Pregnancy Clinic in Sarasota, added that the amendment's vague language on consent could pose a risk that it could allow traffickers and abusers “to more easily coerce girls into having an abortion,” according to the Diocese of Venice, Florida.
“This makes abortion the only medical procedure in the state of Florida for minors that does not require parental consent,” Liebert said. “There are other dangers to these girls, too. Passage of this amendment would make it much easier for traffickers and abusers to coerce girls into having an abortion because the parental consent requirement would be removed. This is a real problem. To make matters worse, because there is no doctor involved, it would be easier for abusers to get someone — a nebulous 'healthcare provider' — to say they need an abortion.”
The push for Amendment 4 began after Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the Heartbeat Protection Act of 2023, ultimately making abortions illegal in the state after six weeks.
According to the Florida Phoenix, Sandler and his group plan to put up signs with pictures of doctors voicing their opposition to Measure 4, spread the message on social media, and lobby churches.
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