Pro-lifers credit rejection of Florida's pro-abortion amendment to DeSantis' outspoken opposition

Florida became the first state in the country on Tuesday night to reject a pro-abortion ballot initiative since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

Florida's Amendment 4, which would have enshrined progressive abortion policies into the state’s constitution, failed after 43% voted "No" and 57% voted "Yes." The measure needed a 60% supermajority to pass, the highest threshold in the country. 

Amendment 4, which was drafted and supported by Floridians Protecting Freedom and led by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, would have codified abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Florida's current law, which prevents abortion starting at six weeks gestation, will remain in place. The 6-week ban, which was implemented in May, has been a point of contention in the state, with proponents of the amendment arguing it is far too restrictive. 

While liberals melted down over the public's decision, pro-life groups applauded the move by Florida's electorate. In particular, many pro-life groups thanked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for being so outspoken in his fight against the potential change to Florida's state Constitution. 

"Gov. DeSantis’s leadership was critical and points to a successful model other states should look to when facing similar challenges," Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, said. "His bold and unapologetic commitment to fighting against Amendment 4 energized, empowered, and inspired Floridians of all walks of life to join the fight against the amendment."

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She also said the people of Florida were able to see through an "onslaught of well-funded lies" to reject the abortion amendment. The abortion lobby reportedly spent around $150 million in ads, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact. 

"When voters know the truth about dangerous and far-reaching abortion amendments appearing on their ballots, they reject them wholeheartedly," she said. 

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, also thanked DeSantis for his advocacy against Amendment 4. 

"Thanks to Governor DeSantis, voters were not deceived by the abortion industry’s scheme to profit from late-term abortions and eliminate common sense laws to protect the health and safety of women," she said. "DeSantis, GOP leaders, and the pro-life movement worked diligently so Floridians would not fall for George Soros' attempt to strip parents of their rights and force taxpayers to fund abortion."

Dannenfelser also said the outcomes prove abortion wasn't the silver bullet Democrats thought it was in the 2024 election cycle. 

"Even after half a billion dollars in abortion TV ads this election, they still lost the presidency, the Senate and potentially the House. The reason? Their extreme abortion agenda is out of step with Americans. And their fearmongering didn't work," she said. "Most Americans support early, reasonable limits on abortion. In the first presidential election since Dobbs, it's clear that aborting our nation's children isn't the galvanizing issue that Democrats and the mainstream media insisted it would be."

Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, agreed. Despite the abortion industry's millions in spending and allies like George Soros spending millions on their campaign to enshrine abortion into law, it still wasn't enough, she said. 

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"The pro-abortion lobby’s financial onslaught and the intense pro-abortion bias of Florida newsgroups couldn’t defeat the resolve of Floridians to protect preborn children," Rose said. 

Florida's current law will stay in place, which prevents 50,000 abortions in the state, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute. 

The amendment's language states, "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."

Florida was one of 10 states on Election Day with a measure on the ballot to protect access to abortion, with the majority of the measures seeking to amend efforts passed in Republican-led states, whose leaders moved to restrict abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court's June 2022 decision on Roe.

Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a record number of voters think abortion should be legal, with two-thirds favoring a nationwide law guaranteeing access, according to a Fox News national survey conducted from March 22-25, 2024. But, DeSantis described Amendment 4 as a "bait and switch."

"This amendment, if adopted, would be the first amendment in the history of the state of Florida to actually repeal a right," the Republican governor said during a "Doctors Against Amendment 4" stop in October.

"It will repeal the right of a parent to have to provide consent before their child undergoes an abortion," he said. "Right now in Florida, we have parental consent, not just for abortion, but for anything involving medical treatment for a minor. They can't give your kid an aspirin unless you consent."

DeSantis’ Agency for Health Care Administration also launched a public awareness campaign to combat ads put forth by the abortion industry, which pro-life groups said spread "lies" about the ability to receive care for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy in Florida. There is no law in the United States that prevents doctors from performing abortions to save the life of the mother.

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Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, said that while pro-abortion proponents of Amendment 4 used the same playbook they have in others states, including relying on "fearmongering and disinformation," Floridians still rejected the proposal when they learned it would open the floodgates for taxpayer-funded abortion, at any time and for any reason. 

"We are grateful to Governor Ron DeSantis who, from the outset, led the effort to cut through the pro-abortion campaign of lies and exposed the ugly truth about Amendment 4," he said. 

Noemi Padilla, who worked in a Tampa, Florida abortion clinic for four years also applauded the news given her firsthand experience. She said she was responsible for "the devastation that abortion has wrecked on women and their families - the absolute grief, regret, and physical pain women went through because [she] convinced them abortion was their best and only option."

"I spoke out in Florida for all of us who have quit the abortion industry because we finally decided not to believe the lies we were told and the lies we were telling women," she added. "This is not only a win for Florida but a win for women, for all of us who walked away from those abortion clinics that ended innocent lives and left women broken."

Former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson, who is now the founder of And Then There Were None and ProLove Ministries, echoed the same sentiment, describing Amendment 4 as "extreme."

"Nothing is more heinous than tearing apart a baby in the womb, which the amendment would have allowed far into a pregnancy," she said. "I am grateful Florida will be a beacon of hope in the protection of innocent lives."

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Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.