by Kate Anderson
Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody of Florida asked the state Supreme Court Monday to review language for a proposed abortion amendment that would enshrine the practice up to viability, according to The National Desk.
The amendment was submitted by Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) and has amassed 0ver 400,000 of the 891,523 signatures needed by Feb. 1 to get the amendment on the November 2024 ballot, according to The National Desk. Moody has been vocal in her opposition to the amendment and told the court Monday that she felt FPF’s proposed language did not “satisfy the legal requirements” for a spot on the ballot.
“I submit that the aforementioned initiative does not satisfy the legal requirements for ballot placement,” Moody wrote. She said that she would detail her full objections in a follow-up brief to be submitted soon, according to The National Desk.
The ballot summary of the amendment, which would be presented to voters, states that “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,” according to the text. The amendment would not change Florida law which requires minors to notify their parents or guardians before having an abortion.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law in April that bans abortions in the state after six weeks of pregnancy or after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The law has limited exceptions of up to 15 weeks in cases of rape, incest, human trafficking or to protect the life of the mother.
Moody had explained that she was staunchly pro-life but that her objections to the amendment’s language were based solely on concerns that in its current form, the amendment would “mislead” voters, in an article that she wrote for Florida’s Voice. She explained that the term “viability” can mean around 12 weeks when a pregnancy is expected to continue normally or when a child can survive outside the womb, around 21 to 25 weeks.
“As any mother knows, ‘viability’ has two meanings when it comes to pregnancy,” Moody wrote. “When it comes to viability, even the pro-choice-aligned American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists notes the two medical definitions and urges that ‘[t]he concept of viability of [an unborn baby] is frequently misrepresented or misinterpreted based on ideological principles. This perpetuates incorrect and unscientific understandings of medical terms.’”
FPF and Moody did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Kate Anderson is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
