A Florida pro-life group hopes to protect unborn babies from abortion by adding language that recognizes their “God-given right to life” to the state constitution.
News Service of Florida reports the Protect Human Life Florida Committee recently began the approval process to place a state constitutional amendment, the Human Life Protection Amendment, on the 2024 ballot. The Florida Department of State gave initial approval to the request Aug. 12.
To amend the Florida Constitution, the pro-life committee first must collect 891,589 petition signatures in order for the proposal to qualify for the ballot. Then, at least 60 percent of state voters must approve the amendment.
The proposal would create a right to life for babies in the womb from the moment of conception. It allows exceptions when the mother’s life is at risk and makes clear that “a spontaneous miscarriage, or spontaneous fetal demise” is not an abortion or a violation of an unborn baby’s right to life.
“The right to life of the preborn individual is God‐given, thus unalienable and recognized accordingly. Therefore, it shall not be infringed at any stage of development,” the proposed amendment states.
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Currently, Florida allows abortions up to 15 weeks but protects unborn babies after that point. However, pro-abortion groups are challenging the 15-week ban in court.
Florida reported 74,868 abortions in 2020, before the 15-week ban passed, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Pro-life advocates also are trying to pass state constitutional amendments in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Montana and Pennsylvania, and pro-abortion groups are working on pro-abortion amendments in Michigan, California and Vermont.
The abortion issue and unborn babies’ right to life are back in the control of the states after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a historic ruling June 24.
In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the Supreme Court justices said states may protect unborn babies from abortion again. Thirteen already have done so, although some have been blocked by court orders, and more state are expected to enact pro-life laws in the coming weeks.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute estimates about 120,000 unborn babies are being saved from abortion as a result of the pro-life laws currently in place.
