By Lynda Bell, President, Florida Right to Life
On July 25, the Florida First District Court of Appeals ruled that the financial impact statement dealing with Amendment 4 is appropriate and will stand as written.
In the state of Florida, all ballot initiatives must have a financial impact statement to properly inform voters of the cost to the state and the taxpayers. On June 10, Circuit judge John Cooper ruled that the outdated information in the financial impact statement “renders it inaccurate, ambiguous, misleading, unclear and confusing.”
The appeals court disagreed.
What would Amendment 4 do?
If 60% of Floridians vote in favor of Amendment 4,
it would enshrine abortion in the state constitution. If passed, all commonsense laws designed to protect women and children would be nullified. Parental consent would be tossed, and many girls would be victimized.
Health care standards for women and girls would be erased, and painful late term abortion would be allowed up to the moment of birth!
We at Florida Right to Life believe the financial impact statement could have gone even further. The financial impact statement reads as follows.
“The proposed amendment would result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births per year in Florida. The increase in abortions could be even greater if the amendment invalidates laws requiring parental consent before minors undergo abortions and those ensuring only licensed physicians perform abortions. There is also uncertainty about whether the amendment will require the state to subsidize abortions with public funds. Litigation to resolve those and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to the state government and state courts that will negatively impact the state budget. An increase in abortions may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time. Because the fiscal impact of increased abortions on state and local revenues and costs cannot be estimated with precision, the total impact of the proposed amendment is indeterminate.”
While we mostly agree with the statement, the following portion doesn’t go far enough: “(if) the amendment invalidates laws requiring parental consent before minors undergo abortions.”
Let me be clear, there is no “IF” about invalidating Parental Consent laws. They will absolutely be nullified and parents will not have the right to consent to their minor girl’s abortion. The only reason Parental Notification remains intact is because it’s in our constitution,
In fact, if Yes on 4 had the ability they would have nullified notification. One thing is sure, Parental notification is not consent and they know it!
In an irony of the absurd, Yes on 4, which brought this horrible amendment, backed by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, lamented the statement. They said the decision “misleads the public and undermined the clarity and accuracy required for such statements.”
If it weren’t so sadly ironic it would be laughable, Amendment 4 can be described exactly the same way as it (purposely) misleads the public and lacks clarity.
One only needs to read the very few words in the amendment to see that there is no definition of “health care provider”, No definition of “viability” and no definition of “patients health.” They attempt to mislead the public making them believe parental notification is the same thing as consent. It is not!
If amendment 4 were to pass, we would have abortion through birth with no limitations, no parental consent, and no health care standards. The only portion of the amendment that is clear is when they state the following: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay or restrict abortion…”
This isn’t about women’s rights and certainly not about government interference. Amendment 4 is about protecting the abortion business, and their bottom line. Why else would they have an item that protects only the abortionist?
Don’t let them lie to you, don’t let them deceive you, we must vote No on Amendment 4.
In summary, we at Florida Right to Life oppose Amendment 4 and believe it should be exposed for the dangerous, ambiguous, and deceptive amendment it is. Amendment 4 is designed to fool Florida residents into believing a lie.