Earlier this year, a group of abortion access and reproductive health advocates erected a two-story tall IUD—an intrauterine device for contraception—in Kleman Plaza, just steps from Florida’s Capitol building.
Mylissa Farmer says she joined the group to "encourage every woman to take their power into their own hands."
Over the next several days, voters in 10 states will decide whether to enshrine the right to abortion in their constitutions. One of those states is here in Florida, where most abortions after six weeks are currently banned. Some states just require a majority vote to pass ballot measures. In Florida, that threshold is higher.
Farmer says the stakes are high too.
Two years ago, Farmer says she traveled to three states to find a doctor who would perform the abortion she needed when her water broke early. Doctors in Kansas and Missouri told Farmer her pregnancy was no longer viable, and she was at risk of developing a life-threatening infection, but they said their hands were tied because of concerns over state abortion laws.
“And the conditions before they could treat me was not something I was willing to go through," Farmer says. "I wasn’t willing to go into sepsis."
So, Farmer drove to Illinois where she received the abortion she needed. And recently, she traveled to one more state—Florida—where she hopes her story will urge residents to support the state’s abortion amendment as they head to the polls.
Governor Ron DeSantis has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the proposal, which he says would "make Florida one of the most radical abortion regimes, not just in the U.S, but anywhere in the world." He and other amendment opponents argue the current ban protects pregnant people in part because it includes an exception for the life of the mother.
Voting on the issue is already underway. In Florida, constitutional changes need 60% approval to pass. That’s more than citizens' initiatives on abortion protection in other states have so far garnered.
"Can Florida get a few more percentage points? I think that is the question relative to Ohio and Michigan," says Ballotpedia's Ryan Byrne.
Byrne says proposals passed recently in Ohio and Michigan both took about 57% of the vote. And he points out while those tend to be swing states, Florida is more conservative. The 60% threshold has been in place since 2006 and in that time Byrne says voters have considered 14 citizens’ initiatives. Nine passed. Five failed.
Recent polling shows the vote on this year’s amendment is likely to come down to just a few votes.
