Across the country voters in ten states will face radical pro-abortion constitutional amendments on their ballots in November. Missouri, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada, and South Dakota have all been targeted by the abortion industry. If their proposed dark-money amendments are successful, these states will see protection stripped away from the unborn and their mothers. Deceptive language and out-of-state money flowing in from groups like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood seek to present these radical proposals as reasonable compromises. They are not reasonable, rather they are extreme amendments. Many of these contain loopholes that would allow for all trimesters abortion even in states that formerly had voted to protect the unborn.
This nationwide campaign would not be possible if it weren’t for the tens of millions of dollars that have been poured in from radical pro-abortion groups. Many states have an initiative petition process which allows amendments to be added onto the ballot if a certain number of citizens sign a petition requesting it. Getting the required number of signatures can prove to be a difficult task even in cases where there is a groundswell of public interest. However, getting the required number of signatures to appear on the ballot can be made much simpler if there is considerable financial backing.
Paying canvassers to travel the state and solicit these signatures bypasses the need for grassroots support. In Florida alone the pro-abortion advocates have raised over $56 million. This has allowed pro-abortion groups to essentially pay their way onto the ballot in many states. When propped up by out-of-state interests or billion-dollar industries, these initiative petitions do not reflect the true values or desires of most citizens.
In Missouri the radical Amendment 3 proposal was nearly kept from the ballot due to the pro-abortion campaign’s apparent misleading of the people. Missouri Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh ruled that those soliciting signatures did not adequately inform voters who signed petitions about the amendment’s ramifications. Missourians were not given a list of laws that would be repealed should Amendment 3 pass, a violation of state law according to the judge. While the state Supreme Court reversed Judge Limbaugh’s ruling, his concerns are legitimate.
In states like Missouri, laws that protect parents’ ability to guide their children’s healthcare decisions are also at risk of being dismantled. If these amendments pass, parents could lose the right to be involved in significant medical decisions, including those surrounding abortion for minors. Not only that, but states like Florida which have taken steps to protect minor children from being subject to gender related surgeries could see parental rights terminated beyond abortion. By removing these safeguard laws, the amendments strip away crucial parental oversight, leaving minors vulnerable to life-altering decisions without family support.
For these radical proposals to stand a chance at passing, there must first be dishonest advertising and propaganda to sway the public and misrepresent the ballot amendments. Voters in most states are not in favor of radical proposals that would allow all trimesters unregulated abortion. For that reason, those pushing these plans will hide their true intentions behind misleading language. Advertising the amendments as “mainstream” or “reasonable” compromises deliberately deceives the American voter. Many of these ballot measures claim to protect unborn life after a determination of medical viability, a term they often refuse to define, while carefully crafting the language to allow abortion until birth.
Existing laws that offer the unborn the most basic protections in the womb are characterized as extreme. Messaging promoting Florida’s radical Amendment 4 states, “Before many women know they’re pregnant, before their first appointment, before a doctor can see anything on an ultrasound, this is when the government in Florida has banned abortion — an extreme ban with no real exceptions, not for her health, not even for rape.”
These claims are simply not true. Florida’s pro-life protections allow for exceptions such as rape, incest, and the life of the mother. To present their own radical proposals as if they were mainstream, the abortion industry falsely characterizes existing state laws. Masking the extreme nature of their own proposals while misrepresenting existing protections to deceive the electorate. According to the pro-abortion campaign these dishonest advertisements are airing in, “the most populated TV markets in the state.”
Sadly, the dishonest campaigns are not being corrected by many mainstream media outlets. The burden rests on all of us in the pro-life community to share the truth about what is facing the nation in the form of these radical amendments. Informing our friends, family, and church communities is essential in this fight. Through our actions and prayers, these amendments must be defeated.
The truth surrounding these proposals is that many of them rely heavily on ill-defined or entirely un-defined terms to create cavernous loopholes. For example, critical terms such as viability, health care provider, and patient’s health are left entirely without definitions in Florida. Legal analysts have acknowledged that these terms can be interpreted very broadly in a way that opens the door to late-term abortion.
An intentional refusal to define, for example, healthcare provider could result in interpretation so broad that even non-physician abortion facility workers could approve of an abortion past the time when an unborn baby can feel pain (at 15 weeks) or be considered medically viable outside of the womb. Similarly, the term viability itself often goes undefined in these proposals. As a result, it could once again be up to the abortionists, who have a clear financial interest in abortion, to decide if the unborn child is viable or not.
In addition, the verbal sleight of hand extends to the common use of another undefined term, “health.” At first glance voters may believe that this is an exception only if the mother’s life is in danger of being lost due to complications of the pregnancy. Yet again, however, the abortion industry has tricks to play. Without specific clarification, “health” can be understood to include not only life-threatening circumstances, but also emotional health. This could again give the abortionists a loophole to extend abortion far deeper into pregnancy than what voters are made aware of. If an abortionist decides that a woman’s mental health is being negatively impacted by her pregnancy, they could use that as justification for all trimester abortion.
These common themes of ill-defined terms and dishonest advertising are hallmarks of the pro-abortion ballot initiatives and the abortion industry itself. The coming election will be a critical moment in the fight for life. If these radical pro-abortion amendments pass and are made constitutional law in the various states, it will be devastating for unborn babies and their mothers and fathers.
While the current focus is on ten individual states, the passage of these pro-abortion amendments would have nationwide implications. Pro-abortion groups are likely to view success in these states as a signal to push for similar amendments across the country. If they are successful, it will embolden the pro-abortion radicals to pursue this same strategy in more states. Big abortion businesses and out of state interests will be able to use the initiative petition process as a way to expand their profits. The cost of placing future amendments on the ballot and spreading dishonest ad campaigns will be seen as an investment. For this reason, it is critical that we defeat this attack on life.
With your help, Life Issues Institute will continue to expose the truth and fight for life as we change the hearts and minds of millions. The malicious plans of the billion-dollar abortion industry hinge on their ability to misinform voters. Through pro-life education we will inform voters of what is really at stake in these radical ballot initiatives. Voters deserve to know the truth about what is on their ballot. Unborn babies deserve to be protected.
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