Moody requests Florida Supreme Court advise if pro-abortion amendment initiative is legal

By Eric Daugherty

Published Oct. 9, 2023, 4:16 p.m. ET | Updated Oct. 9, 2023

'Top Cop,' Ashley Moody for Attorney General.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody requested the Florida Supreme Court issue an advisory opinion as to whether a ballot initiative that would legalize abortion statewide complies with legal requirements for ballot placement.

It would appear on voters’ ballots in 2024 should it receive enough signatures.

The initiative is entitled “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion” and as of Monday, it has over 400,000 valid signatures statewide. It needs at least 891,523 to make it on the ballot.

In a filing, Moody requested the court advise as to whether the amendment abides by the Florida Constitution’s requirement for single-subject provision in Article XI, Section 3.

Per the state’s constitution, ballot initiatives “shall embrace but one subject and matter directly connected therewith.”

Moody also requested the court examine if the initiative’s title and summary align with technical and substantive requirements under Florida law.

In her request, the attorney general argued that the initiative “does not satisfy the legal requirements for ballot placement.”

The summary of the amendment 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.”

The initiative for the amendment is sponsored by Floridians Protecting Freedom.

“The overwhelming majority of Floridians think we should all have the freedom to make our own personal health care decisions without interference from politicians,” the group says on its website. “Help put these decisions back in the hands of Florida families and their doctors, not politicians.”

In an opinion piece for Florida’s Voice last week, Moody expanded on her rationale for opposing the amendment not out of her beliefs against abortion, but for legal reasons.

“As I have done throughout my two terms, I have objected to initiatives when the language of the summary will mislead voters,” she said. “Floridians Protecting Freedom’s initiative is one of the worst I have seen.”

Moody noted that the initiative defines a point of abortion access “before viability.”

“As any mother knows, ‘viability’ has two meanings when it comes to pregnancy,” she said.

“That choice was not a mistake. It was done to increase the chance that this provision will pass as polling shows that more Americans support abortion in the first trimester with that support significantly decreasing as pregnancy progresses.”