Why Florida's Pro-Abortion Amendment #4 Must Not Pass
October 5, 2024 11:07am
Dr. Bill Lile of ProLifeDoc.org was my guest on today's radio program. That episode is now archived online as a podcast at www.TheMikeBatesShow.com/podcasts/241005
Last year, pro-abortion activists in Florida garnered enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on this year's ballot. If voters approve Amendment 4 by a 60% margin, it would replace Florida’s current law that prohibits abortions after six-weeks gestation under most circumstances. Amendment 4 would permit nearly unrestricted abortion throughout the state. The amendment is so broadly written that a woman could legally kill her child on its due date at nine months gestation.
The ballot summary reads, "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."
Like all proposed constitutional amendments in Florida, the exact wording of that ballot summary was written by the activists who placed it on the ballot. So it is intended to portray it in the most positive manner. But the language is actually very deceptive and unclear. What that constitutional amendment would do hinges on three critical terms: "viability," "health," and "healthcare provider."
What is "viability?" Most people would assume "viability" means the baby can live on its own outside the womb. And Florida Statute 390.011 currently defines viability as "the stage of fetal development when the life of a fetus is sustainable outside the womb through standard medical measures." But the legislature could change that at any time.
What is "health?" Most people would assume "health" is the physical well-being of the woman's body. But does mental health count? If having a baby might make a woman unhappy, would that be reason enough to kill the child? Current Florida law, Chapter 390.01112 does not consider psychological conditions to be "health" for purposes of lawful abortion. But a future legislature could, by simple majority, change that.
What is a "healthcare provider?" Most people would assume a "healthcare provider" is a doctor or registered nurse. But Florida Statute 641.19 also includes as providers anyone who is "licensed or otherwise authorized to practice in the state." Well, Florida requires massage therapists, cosmetologists, and nail technicians to be licensed. Could they authorize late-term abortions if Amendment 4 passes?
Even if the answer to that question is currently "no," the legislature, by a simple majority, could at any point in the future change the definition of "healthcare provider" under Florida law. Doing so could radically change the meaning of Amendment 4. While a nail technician may or may not be considered a "healthcare provider" today, she could easily be considered a "healthcare provider" in the future. And with such a designation, a nail technician would have the constitutional authority in the State of Florida to give legal permission to kill a child in the womb at nine months gestation. And the State of Florida would be powerless to prevent it. The legislature could also one day include astrologists and palm readers as "healthcare providers."
But even now, federal regulations under the Public Health Service Act consider community mental health centers, pharmacists, and therapists to be healthcare providers. And it also allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to unilaterally change what constitutes a healthcare provider. So, I am certain a future Democrat would one day broaden the federal definition of "healthcare provider" to include anyone who favors abortions at any point in a pregnancy.
Floridians should not risk enshrining such nebulous and changeable terms into the state constitution. A "NO" vote on Amendment is critical. Because if it passes, it would never be repealed.
As of last month, Amendment 4's sponsor has spent more than $56.8 million to enshrine a right to kill pre-born children throughout Florida. But those of us who value human life can defeat that effort by voting "NO" on Amendment 4, and by informing our friends as to what Amendment 4 would actually do. Because if voters knew the truth; that a child in the womb is its own distinct human and is not just an unviable tissue mass, those voters would certainly defeat this dangerous and deceptive amendment.
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