Even in Florida, Voters Love Abortion Rights
Women are not without electoral or political power.
This piece first appeared in our weekly newsletter, The Fallout.
Today is a hard day.
There is no denying that a second Donald Trump presidency will be brutal. His campaign promised just as much. I’m certainly not the journalist to turn to for rosy takes, and I’m not offering any here. However: In the first presidential election year since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, it is undeniable that voters across the entire country strongly support reproductive autonomy.
Abortion is popular among voters even as they elect leaders who will strip it away.
Voters passed ballot initiatives to protect and/or expand abortion access in New York, Maryland, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, and Missouri. Missouri! With an increasingly conservative national landscape, these wins are more important than ever.
Then there’s Florida. In any other state—but especially a deeply conservative one—having 57 percent of voters support a measure that would have effectively restored Roe-era access would be a tremendous win. But thanks to Florida’s 60 percent threshold to pass ballot measures, it is not. The lesson from Florida, though, is not that abortion rights lost. Quite the opposite: the lesson here is that voters overwhelmingly support the issue of abortion rights nationwide.
I mean, just look at Missouri.
Florida also shows us that reproductive autonomy and the health of our democracy are inextricably linked. Despite authoritarian efforts to undermine support, including sending law enforcement to intimidate petition signers and threatening media outlets for running ads in support of Amendment 4, it almost passed. Put another way: A strong majority of Florida voters rejected the state’s current six-week ban, but because of the high threshold needed to pass a ballot initiative, it’s going to stay in effect anyway.
The election post-mortems are just beginning. So is the next round of organizing against American authoritarianism. As we’ve said on the Boom! Lawyered podcast: The only way out is through.
Take care of yourselves and each other.