Abortion advocates behind Florida’s Amendment 4 have raised $100 million in an effort to sway the 60 percent of voters needed to pass the radical referendum.
That kind of money can buy a lot of lies – and that’s what we’re seeing on television commercials urging a “yes” vote on the amendment that would invent a right to abortion in the state constitution.
Florida is one of 10 states voting on such amendments this election season and I’ve heard from friends and pro-life activists in other states that ads they have seen also have been less than truthful. But since I live in Florida, I have a front row seat to commercials so blatantly untrue that I find myself yelling at the TV.
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There’s this one, about a woman named Caroline who had an abortion after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
The commercial is heartbreaking, of course, but it is also very misleading. Florida’s Heartbeat law allows abortion when “two physicians certify in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment, the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life…”
While the ad itself doesn’t provide much information about Caroline, the news outlet 19th News reported that in early 2022, Caroline was 17 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma. The prognosis for patients with glioblastoma is bleak, with only 25 percent surviving more than a year.
Caroline was able to abort her child because abortion in Florida at that time was legal until fetal viability. She invites viewers to imagine if the Heartbeat law had been in effect, the implication being that she might well be dead.
The truth is that Florida’s exceptions would have allowed an abortion in her case.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is continuing his herculean efforts to get that ad off the air, even after Floridians Protecting Freedom filed a federal lawsuit to stop him
But the Caroline commercial is not the only one attempting to appeal to voters through lies. This one is full of them. The Heartbeat law, we are told, restricts abortion so early that many women don’t know they’re pregnant. The Orlando station WESH 2 News did some digging and reported that women with wanted pregnancies knew by 5.2 weeks, on average, while unexpected pregnancies were discovered at 7.2 weeks. But of those who sought abortions, just 28 percent did not know they were pregnant before six weeks.
“Many” is a relative term, but the truth is, the majority of women who chose abortion knew they were pregnant before six weeks. That’s lie number one.
Lie number two: The Heartbeat law protects babies before anything can be seen on an ultrasound, the ad insists. This is also false. A staffer here at Priests for Life who had difficulty conceiving said she changed her pro-choice views when, 32 years ago, she saw a bright light flickering on an ultrasound when she was five weeks pregnant. It was her son’s heartbeat.
Lies three and four follow shortly: The law contains no “real exceptions” for a woman’s health, or for pregnancies conceived in rape. Apparently, the producers of this commercial didn’t take the time to read the 11-page law before the cameras rolled.
In regard to a woman’s health, the law states that two physicians must certify in writing that an abortion is necessary “to avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”
In other words, a real risk allows for a real exception.
As for the lie that there is no exception for rape, the law clearly states that abortion is permissible “If the woman obtaining the abortion is doing so because she is a victim of rape, incest or human trafficking.” The crimes must be reported to law enforcement but is that really such a bad thing? Shouldn’t rape be reported, in the hope of saving future victims?
A third ad features an OB-GYN from Sarasota bemoaning the fact that he can’t abort babies who, in his view, “won’t make it.” This is true; there is no exception for fetal anomaly in our law because in the U.S., we don’t kill people for being sick. This ad also repeats the lies about no exceptions for a mother’s health, and says doctors can be prosecuted for violating the law.
While this is true – even doctors have to obey the law – no doctors have been prosecuted for violating abortion statutes, as far as I can determine. If there had been such a case, it would be the lead story on all the networks and cable’s talking heads would be exploding. Doctors who are unsure of what the law entails can turn to organizations like the American Medical Association or the Federation of State Medical Boards for help.
Or they could read the law, as every Floridian should before casting a vote on Amendment 4. I urge everyone to vote no.
LifeNews Note: Janet Morana is the executive director of Priests for Life and the co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
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