DeSantis puts state forces behind the abortion fight over Amendment 4

TALLAHASSEE — After signing a strict ban on abortion into law, Gov. Ron DeSantis is now stepping up his fight against a November ballot question that would expand access to the procedure, using the weight of his political power and his state government to campaign to reject Amendment 4.

In recent weeks, the DeSantis administration has launched a state-sponsored website claiming the measure “threatens women's safety.” He led a sweeping investigation of verified Amendment 4 petitions that resulted in tens of thousands of signatures being pulled for verification and state election police knocking on voters' doors. He used his platform at a Florida Republican convention last weekend to denounce his Republican colleagues by name for not yet donating money to help defeat the abortion amendment.

DeSantis enlisted his staff on the campaign trail, having his top adviser serve as chairman of a political action committee that opposed both the abortion amendment and a proposal to legalize marijuana. And earlier this year, a DeSantis appointee and longtime ally who served with other Republican politicians on a little-known state panel put language on the ballot questioning whether the initiative could lead to taxpayer-funded abortions.

As DeSantis wages a full-scale war on abortion laws, critics accuse him of relying on state government and taxpayer-funded staff, crossing the legal boundaries of the distinction between campaign politics and government duties.

On Wednesday, Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group supporting Amendment 4, and the ACLU of Florida said they would file suit to challenge the “misuse of taxpayer dollars to lie to voters about this amendment.”

“Ron has repeatedly abused state power to obstruct a citizen-led process to put reproductive freedom on the ballot, and this is their latest desperate attempt before Election Day,” said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party. “They are losing, and they know it. They will do anything, including breaking the law, to sabotage the ballot initiative.”

DeSantis defends tactics

DeSantis defended efforts to block Amendment 4, which would allow abortions in Florida before the child is viable, usually up to 24 weeks of pregnancy or when the doctor determines it is necessary to protect the patient's health.

When the Florida Department of Health launched a website opposing Amendment 4, the governor said there was nothing inappropriate about it because “everything it says is factual.” The law prohibits the government from abusing its official authority to influence an election or a person's vote. But he noted that his administration has provided similar taxpayer-funded “public services” before.

“This is not a campaign,” DeSantis said this week. “These are things that can be accomplished through these public service announcements. And I'm glad they're doing it.”

His chief of staff, James Uthmeier, who also chairs a political action committee that DeSantis created in November to block the two amendments, has portrayed the fight against Amendment 4 as a moral issue.

“It's not an election issue – it's a fight for what is right, just and true,” Uthmeier said last week on the social media platform X.

The governor defended the use of his election police to interview people who had signed petitions for Amendment 4. If passed, the bill would repeal the state's six-week abortion ban. That six-week rule, which took effect in May, has become part of DeSantis' anti-abortion legacy, which he used to try to distance himself from former President Donald Trump during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

The Florida Department of State's Office has asked at least six local supervisors for about 37,000 verified petitions, and investigators have knocked on doors, leaving at least one voter shaken.

During a press conference in Miami Lakes on Monday, DeSantis said officials “did what they were supposed to do.”

Previous fraud investigations have relied on rejected petitions that local supervisors deemed obviously false or suspect, but the state has not requested any of those records. The state approved the change for the ballot in January and only began asking county supervisors for petitions a few weeks ago.

DeSantis' influence on the executive branch is clearly visible

A Republican lawmaker cites two reasons for the governor's efforts: The governor personally believes the measure is bad policy, and repealing the abortion measure would be politically advantageous for DeSantis at the national level, as other states have so far supported access to abortion when the option has been on the ballot.

“I think for him, these laws have generally been passed in other states,” Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Palm Bay said in an interview. “So if he helps prevent the bill, that would be good for him politically. And if it passes, that would be very bad for him politically.”

Florida is considered a relatively safe state for Republicans this election year, but polls suggest that a majority of Floridians support some level of abortion access. To pass in November, the abortion bill's vote must reach a 60% approval threshold, a higher hurdle than in other states where voters supported abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

While some polls show Amendment 4 above that threshold, others put it just below. The battle for undecided voters could determine whether the amendment succeeds or fails.

“If (DeSantis) wants to put his energy into something, this is the place to do it,” said Fine, who opposes Amendment 4.

State records indicate that DeSantis' efforts to raise money to oppose the abortion amendment have been mixed. A political committee close to the governor failed to raise any major sums of money as of late August. That committee has raised about $3.6 million since it was formed in May. This week, the Florida Republican Party also paid for political ads opposing the Fourth Amendment, suggesting the state Republican Party may continue to run ads in the future.

Fourth Amendment supporters, on the other hand, had little trouble raising funds for their campaign, raising $12 million in just the two months after the Florida Supreme Court put the question on the November ballot.

However, DeSantis was successful when the state government was involved.

In July, a DeSantis-appointed judge working with representatives from the Florida House and Senate – who had been selected to serve on a little-known state panel – voted to rewrite a statement on the financial impact of the proposed constitutional amendment, questioning whether the amendment would lead to state-funded abortions and warning of additional litigation costs.

DeSantis' office paid a professor at the Catholic University of America $300 an hour to speak before the panel, which decided to attach the financial impact statement to the ballot question, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The Florida House of Representatives brought in a conservative fellow from the Heritage Foundation who was paid $75 an hour. The three appointees overrode state economist Amy Baker, who voted against the new language.

The initiators of Amendment 4 described the final wording and the path to it as a “dirty trick” and pointed out how much the appended wording differed from the State's initial analysis.

In a Sunday speech at a conservative church in Tallahassee, DeSantis called this impact statement a “positive aspect,” especially because it would be on the ballot and not presented to voters by a partisan organization.

The day before that church event, DeSantis reiterated the need for Republicans to fight the amendment, saying that after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal abortion protections in 2022, there were people who “talked big when it was easy” but “when things get a little heated in the kitchen,” they were nowhere to be found.

“I could have done that,” DeSantis said. “Frankly, with Amendment 4, I could have just said, you know what, it's up for a vote, people can decide, let things go the way they want. But that's not the right thing to do.”

DeSantis added: “The right thing to do is to stand up for what is right and take a stand.”