Abortion Rights Protest — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Bob Korn
More than $17 million was raised in 2023 for a campaign to allow Floridians to vote on protecting abortion rights, mostly from female donors, according to a Times examination of updated data. Furthermore, although the majority of donors are Democrats, the state has received contributions from more than 200 Republicans as well.
This month, nearly one million Floridians completed the required number of signatures on petitions to place the amendment on the November ballot. The measure still needs to be approved by the Florida Supreme Court. Ashley Moody, the attorney general, has requested that the body reject it because its wording would mislead voters.
The Times discovered that more than 4,200 registered Florida voters have contributed to the abortion question’s petitioners, in contrast to the nearly solely funded supporters of a comparable effort to legalize marijuana for recreational use. This indicates that voters in the state are contributing more than just their names.
Individual contributions to the Florida fund have totaled about $6 million, with 73 percent of donors contributing $100 or less. The remaining funds were provided by groups like Equality Florida and Planned Parenthood.
An additional $4.2 million has been contributed by people and organizations outside of Florida.
The plan would change the Florida Constitution to safeguard access to abortions up to viability, which is thought to occur after around 24 weeks. If it is approved, the current law that prohibits most abortions beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy would be repealed. In addition, state legislators last year approved a ban on the majority of abortions after six weeks. This ban will go into effect after the Florida Supreme Court decides to strike down the 15-week statute.
Approximately 9,900 contributions have been made by Floridians to Floridians Protecting Freedom, the initiative’s sponsor. Of those possessing voter records, 78 percent were matched by The Times.
Voter registration statistics show that 93 percent of them are non-Hispanic white people, and about 76 percent of them are women. Eighteen years older than the electorate’s median age of 53, half of them are 71 or older.
According to older women contacted by the Times, they gave because they remember what life was like before the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court guaranteed the right to an abortion. of 2022, the highest court of the country reversed Roe.
Apopka resident Hannah Johnson, 70, who does not identify with any political party, donated $10 and expressed her horror at having to defend her rights once more.
Coral Gables resident Tessa Gold Kramer, 77, a registered Democrat, remarked, “It’s worse than living in the 1950s.” Kramer contributed a total of $25 to the campaign four times in late 2023.
According to experts, the ballot initiative may encourage voters in the younger age group to cast ballots.
Democrat Micaela Sandy, 29, was raised in a Christian home in St. Petersburg. In August, she posted the petition on Facebook with her friends and family and gave $25. She said that a previous lover had coerced her mother into getting an abortion. Nevertheless, she was brought up to believe that “women should have the choice” by her mother.
Although making up only 33 percent of Florida’s electorate, 87 percent of the state’s registered individual donors are Democrats.
However, according to records, more than 200 Republicans who are registered have also given to Floridians Protecting Freedom. They include Ivan Eland, 65, a longtime Planned Parenthood volunteer living in Deerfield Beach who called abortion rights “a personal freedom issue.” He gave me fifty-one dollars.
“It could spike the turnout of Democrats,” Eland remarked. “But in my opinion, this matter is more significant than the outcome of any particular political race.”
Melbourne resident Jennifer Ninesling, a 57-year-old Republican, gave $603 in two separate donations.
“Although I generally vote Republican, abortion is a sensitive topic for me, so I’m grateful for the chance to vote to keep this matter apart,” the woman stated.
Although Florida is now firmly a red state, analysts and pollsters predict that an abortion rights petition would garner enough bipartisan support to pass if it makes it to the ballot.
Republicans are in vogue in Florida. According to Mary Ziegler, a legal historian at the University of California, Davis School of Law, there hasn’t been much of an anti-abortion movement.
According to a University of North Florida study conducted in November 2023, 53% of Republicans and 62 percent of registered voters would vote in favor of the amendment if it were put on the ballot. Amendments in Florida require 60 percent of the vote to approve.
Fort Lauderdale resident and $36 donor Dana Marin, a 42-year-old Democrat, stated, “I think there is a disconnect between what the majority of Floridians believe is right when it comes to abortion and what the state’s elected representatives are voting.”
According to preliminary data provided by a representative for Floridians Protecting Freedom, 15 percent of petition signers in support of the initiative are Republicans. However, the data is unfinished and does not consider duplicate signatures.
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Born and raised in South Florida, Krystal is a recent graduate from the University of Miami with professional writing experience at the collegiate and national news outlet levels. She’s a foodie who loves all things travel, the beach, & visiting new places throughout Florida.