EFE
The entry into force starting this Wednesday in Florida of a new law that prohibits abortion from the sixth week of pregnancy has ended up making it impossible to carry out this practice in the southeastern United States, according to detractors of the law. normative.
“The Southeast is already experiencing a public health crisis and banning abortion in Florida will only worsen the situation,” Lauren Brenzel, campaign director of Floridians Protecting Freedom, told EFE.
This organization took to the state Supreme Court, which ended up agreeing with them, a campaign to submit to a referendum in the next November elections an amendment to the Florida Constitution, which, if it achieved a minimum of 60% of votes in favor, would protect the access to abortion and without interference from politicians.
Civil groups and the president of the United States himself, Joe Biden, who aspires to a second term in November, have invested efforts to bring voters to the polls in this state, which now with abortion has strengthened electoral hope for the ruling party, which has not won in Florida in a presidential election since 2012.
In fact, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to hold a campaign event this Wednesday in Jacksonville, in the north of the state, where she will talk about “the fight for reproductive rights,” according to the White House.
Despite the victories of the Republicans in recent electoral cycles, and that in terms of registered voters the conservatives have surpassed the Democrats by about 900 thousand supporters, Biden considers that in the next general elections Florida is still “at stake.” , and a key element of this is the referendum on termination of pregnancy.
“This amendment offers a ray of hope for Floridians living under increasingly restrictive abortion laws, including a looming six-week ban that would eliminate this decision before many even know they are pregnant,” Brenzel said.
“We cannot predict the outcome of the vote, since Florida is a politically diverse state with strong opinions on both sides of the political spectrum,” Clara Trullenque, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Florida, the state affiliate of the largest parenting organization, told EFE. United States that assists women in reproductive health.
Trullenque alluded to a recent poll according to which 64% of Floridians support abortion. But another poll, from Florida Atlantic University (FAU), reflects that the constitutional amendment only has 49% support and 32% are undecided.
“Politicians and judges should not interfere in people's personal and medical decisions,” emphasizes the spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Florida.
This organization recalls that Florida had been providing services to patients who were forced to travel to receive medical care from other southeastern states, where there are an estimated 17 million women of reproductive age who live under some type of abortion restriction.
“This new law will completely change this dynamic,” Trullenque said.
She added that the new rule will increase “unregulated and potentially unsafe and life-threatening abortions,” an effect that could “lead to a health crisis with an increase in serious medical complications.”
At a Biden campaign event last week in Tampa, western Florida, Kaitlyn Joshua, a mother and reproductive rights activist in Louisiana, recounted her experience at the beginning of her second pregnancy.
After suffering from severe pain and profuse bleeding, she went to an emergency room with symptoms of a spontaneous abortion, but due to the state prohibition, her doctors did not inform her what was happening and sent her back to her home.
For Biden, the culprit of all this is her virtual Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, who will not hesitate to establish a national ban on abortion.
According to the Democratic president, Trump boasts of being the cause that in June 2022 the United States Supreme Court ended the federal protections established in the case of Roe vs. Wade and that prevented states from legislating abortion.
