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Florida votes against enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution US elections 2024
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Florida votes against enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution US elections 2024

Florida voters rejected a measure to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution, a devastating blow to advocates who had hoped to reverse the state's six-week abortion ban and continue their now-broken winning streak on ballot measures.

A total of 10 states voted on ballot initiatives related to abortion on Tuesday; Results for the other nine are available. Four of those states could repeal abortion bans under Roe and restore access.

Unlike other measures that require only a simple majority — or, in Colorado's case, 55% of the vote — to pass, Florida's measure needed to receive 60% of the vote.

While always considered an uphill climb, the Florida result is a bitter pill to swallow for abortion rights advocates and reverses a series of victories at the ballot box. Advocates have won a series of abortion-related votes in seven states since Roe was overturned.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Florida became a haven for people fleeing the abortion bans that now dominate the rest of the U.S. South before the six-week ban took effect in May of this year .

Had the Florida measure passed Tuesday, it would have protected the right to abortion until the fetus is viable, about 24 weeks into the pregnancy.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Florida Republicans alarmed civil rights and voting rights groups by unleashing a wave of attacks on the measure. Law enforcement officials investigated people who had signed a petition to put the measure on the ballot, while the state Board of Health Administrators set up a website attacking the change.

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