Governor Ron DeSantis made his way through Southwest Florida on Thursday with the same message throughout his trip, encouraging people to vote against amendments 3 and 4.
Making his first stop in Fort Myers at Bay Street Yard, DeSantis was joined by many other political personnel before making his way to Cape Coral for a press conference where he discussed the amendments.
DeSantis says Amendment 4, the right-to-abortion initiative, would add 40,000 abortions in Florida and "make it the number one abortion tourist destination."
CLAIM : "In Florida, we have parental consent for everything medical. So they can't give your kid a Tylenol in school without parental consent, but somewhere in the constitution will mandate that your minor child can go with a non-physician and have an abortion in the ninth month? That will be in the constitution of the State of Florida," DeSantis said.
DeSantis, of course, spent most of the morning speaking against Amendment 4.
NBC2's Chief Political Correspondent, Dave Elias, fact-checked the claims the Republican Party makes against the amendment.
FACTS: DeSantis brought up that there are no definitions in Amendment 4, but there are seldom definitions in constitutional amendments. They are not required.
As long as they are reviewed by the State Supreme Court for clarity. The courts approved Amendment 4.
The other big argument with this amendment is that it enables abortions at any time for almost any reason.
While it is brief like most, if passed, the courts will fill in the gaps.
Florida law is clear and already has definitions. For example, viability is defined as "up to the point a child can survive on it's own outside the womb."
Current Florida law requires only physicians to perform an abortion. That doesn't change.
Again, the language in the amendment doesn't suggest anyone but a doctor would perform an abortion.
Lastly, the Republican Party claims the amendment cuts out parental consent. This is false. Article 10, section 22 of the Florida Constitution already requires parental notification.
Again, the amendment states parental notification won't be impacted. Parental consent law is also required following a State Supreme Court ruling in April.
DeSantis also discussed Amendment 3 during his press conference in Cape Coral.
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