Floridians Protecting Freedom Inc. has reportedly gathered 147,524 petition signatures, which will help their effort to reform the Florida state constitution in a way that will permanently legalize abortion access.
The Floridians Protecting Freedom Inc. group seeks to reverse the Heartbeat Protection Act, a new law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
But conservatives are counteracting the measure with their own ballot initiative.
“I’ve heard they are getting people to sign that don't even know what the heck they're signing and we're trying to counter that with a Protection of Human Life Amendment to the Florida Constitution,” said Dr. John Littell, a family physician in Ocala.
Littell was reacting to the news that Floridians Protecting Freedom Inc. had not only begun gathering signatures for a ballot initiative but also raised some $5 million in contributions.
“That’s scary for a doctor like me who's been caring for moms and couples who are struggling with fertility issues,” he said. “I have patients who come in who are still recovering from their abortions. Some post-abortive moms from decades ago start to cry if I bring it up. They're starting to realize what they’ve done.”
If successful, the Protection of Human Life Amendment would amend Article 1 of the Florida Constitution to enshrine the right to life of unborn fetuses under the Declaration of Rights.
The ballot summary defines a preborn individual as an unborn human person at any stage of development and affirms that life-saving procedures to save the life of the mother should not be construed as a violation when accompanied by reasonable steps to save the life of the preborn individual.
“The bottom line is that doctors need to step up,” Littell told the Florida Record. “We took an oath to defend and protect life and we fall short because unfortunately, as I have found, many of the younger doctors who have a conscience have been either weeded out because it's very hard to get through pre-med then by the time they get out of school, they've been so brainwashed into believing that the over arching ethical principle in healthcare is the principle of autonomy, which basically says let the patient do whatever they want.”
As previously reported in the Epoch Times, in order to include the ballot initiative in the Nov. 2023 election, Floridians Protecting Freedom has until Feb. 1, 2024 to collect and present 891,589 signed petitions to the Secretary of State. The Florida Supreme Court is required to approve how the amendment is worded.