Govt. Ron DeSantis and state officials have tried to roll back abortion rights at almost every turn and blurred the lines by using their official power to fight the citizen-led Amendment 4 ballot initiative.

Amendment 4, which seeks to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution, will be decided in Tuesday’s election. The ballot measures come after Florida lawmakers passed a six-week abortion ban for most pregnancies that took effect in May.

Abortion rights supporters of DeSantis praise him for doing what he can to fight for unborn children.

“He exhausted every possible resource to stop the amendment, but the opposition was brutally defiant. It reminds me of the story of David and Goliath. Governor, you are the David of the story,” said Dr. Ana Verdeja-Perezan OB/GYN in Plant City, at a rally near DeSantis.

DeSantis’ critics say what he’s doing is illegal and say the state’s fight with taxpayer resources is unprecedented. The governor is trying to distract from Florida’s extreme abortion ban, they say.

“The government cannot silence the truth about Florida’s extreme abortion ban. It is a deadly ban that puts women’s lives at risk.” Lauren BrenzelCampaign Director of Yes on 4, adding “Floridians will not back down in the face of government intimidation.”

The 4th Amendment began when a The grassroots effort gathered signatures to get the initiative to restore abortion rights on the ballot.

The Florida Supreme Court voted 4-3 to allow the issue to go before voters. Judges Renatha Francis and Meredith Sassowho opposed his inclusion on the ballot, are also candidates for re-election in Tuesday’s election.

Then this summer, a usually dull state panel turned into a political drama after Rep. DeSantis and a Heritage Foundation staffer were added to the panel to weigh Amendment 4’s financial impact. Rebelling against the state’s top economistthe group decided that a “financial impact statement” must appear on the ballot to warn voters about the costs of litigation and more.

Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF), the political group supporting Amendment 4, called it dirty political tricks designed to convince voters to reject the initiative. However, FPF failed to challenge financial impact statement – ​​a common occurrence, with most lawsuits or legal challenges failing to check Republican power.

DeSantis later accused Amendment 4 of petition fraud and reports have emerged of election police knocking on doors to investigate these claims. Democrats called it a witch hunt and claimed the petitions were vetted by the county’s supervisor of elections.

The state issued a report of 350 pages that he said FPF illegally paid petition circulators based on the number of signatures they collected.

The state report was the basis pro-life lawyers to sue in Orange Circuit County to challenge the results of Tuesday’s election before the votes had been counted. The plaintiffs are represented by former Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson.

The state also organized its own public campaign against Amendment 4.

An Agency for Health Administration website warned voters that Amendment 4 was dangerous to women and children. A Leon Circuit Court judge allowed the site to stay up after FPF sued.

About a month after the election, the Department of Health (DOH) sent cease and desist letters to television stations threatening prosecution if they played an abortion rights ad featuring Caroline. A CBS station, WINK-TV in Fort Myers, we removed ads for five days.

The DOH lawyer who signed the cease and desist letters resigned from his position and they said they were written by DeSantis’ attorneys.

A federal judge ordered the state to stop threatening the media with prosecution and issued a temporary restraining order that was extended until November 12, after the election.

Meanwhile, DeSantis is spending the final days before Election Day traveling the state with Medics Against Amendment 4, religious leaders and even former NFL coach Tony Dungy to urge voters to reject Amendment 4. DeSantis also threatens doctors who speak out against state abortion bans, saying they should be sued for medical malpractice.

In what has become an all-out war, the FPF has raised more than $110 million, and polls show Amendment 4 near or at a 60% majority to pass. But the large number of undecided voters and potential polling error means Tuesday will be a close race.

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