Florida became the first state in the nation Tuesday night to reject a pro-abortion initiative since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Florida Amendment 4that would have enshrined progressive abortion policies in the state constitution, failed after 43 percent voted “No” and 57 percent voted “Yes.” The measure needed a 60% supermajority to pass, the highest threshold in the country.

Amendment 4, which was drafted and supported by Freedom-Protecting Floridians and spearheaded by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, would have codified abortion during all nine months of pregnancy. Florida’s current law, which prevents abortion starting at six weeks of gestation, will remain in place. The 6-week ban, which was implemented in May, has been a point of contention in the state, with supporters of the amendment arguing that it is far too restrictive.

while the liberals melted away on the public’s decision, pro-life groups applauded the move by the Florida electorate. In particular, many pro-life groups thanked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for being so outspoken in his fight against the potential change to the Florida State Constitution.

“Governor DeSantis’ leadership has been critical and points to a successful model that other states should look to when facing similar challenges,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life. “His bold and unapologetic commitment to fight Amendment 4 has energized, empowered and inspired Floridians from all walks of life to join the fight against the amendment.”

(Newborn child sleeps in bed.)

DESANTIS CLAIMS VICTORY IN FLORIDA ABORTION, MARIJUANA AMENDMENTS SUPPORTERS CELEBRATE: ‘PRAISE GOD’

She also said the people of Florida had to go through a “well-funded onslaught of lies” to defeat the abortion amendment. The abortion lobby has spent about $150 million on ads, according to media tracking firm AdImpact.

“When voters know the truth about the dangerous and far-reaching abortion amendments appearing on their ballots, they wholeheartedly reject them,” she said.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, also thanked DeSantis for his advocacy against Amendment 4.

“Thanks to Governor DeSantis, voters were not fooled by the abortion industry’s scheme to profit from late abortions and eliminate common-sense laws to protect women’s health and safety,” she said. “DeSantis, GOP leaders and the pro-life movement have worked diligently to keep Floridians from falling for George Soros’s attempt to dispossess them parents of rights and force. taxpayers to fund abortion.”

Dannenfelser also said the results prove abortion wasn’t the silver bullet Democrats thought it was in the 2024 election cycle.

“Even after half a billion dollars in abortion TV ads this election, they still lost the presidency, the Senate and potentially the House. The reason? Their extreme abortion agenda is out of step with Americans. And their fear didn’t work.” she said. “Most Americans support early and reasonable limits on abortion. In the first presidential election since Dobbs, it is clear that the abortion of our nation’s children is not the galvanizing issue that Democrats and the media have insisted it is.”

Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, agreed. Despite the abortion industry spending millions and allies like George Soros spending millions on their campaign to legalize abortion, it still wasn’t enough, she said.

PRO-LIFE LAWYER SAYS TRUMP VICTORY ‘HUGE’ FOR CATHOLIC VOTERS: ‘MORALITY MATTER’

“The financial avarice of the pro-abortion lobby and the intense pro-abortion bias of Florida news outlets could not defeat the determination of Floridians to protect the unborn,” Rose said.

Florida’s current law will remain in place, which prevents 50,000 abortions in the state, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

The amendment’s language states: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the health of the patient as determined by the patient’s health care provider.”

A mother holding her newborn baby on her chest at the hospital. (iStock)

Florida was one of the 10 states on election day with a measure on the ballot for protecting access to abortion, most of the measures aimed at reversing the efforts have been passed in Republican-led states, whose leaders decided to restrict abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision on Roe.

Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a record number of voters believe that abortion should be legal, with two-thirds favoring a statewide law guaranteeing access, according to a Fox News national poll conducted March 22-25, 2024. But DeSantis described Amendment 4 as a “bait and switch” .

“This amendment, if passed, would be the first amendment in the history of the state of Florida to effectively repeal a right,” the Republican governor said during a Doctors Against Amendment 4 stop in October.

“It will remove a parent’s right to have to give consent before their child undergoes an abortion,” he said. “Right now, in Florida, we have parental consent, not just for abortion, but for anything involving medical treatment for a minor. They can’t give your child an aspirin unless you agree.”

The DeSantis Agency for Health Care Administration also launched a public awareness campaign to combat ads published by the abortion industry, which pro-life groups said spread “lies” about the ability to receive abortion care and ectopic pregnancy in Florida. Exist no law in the United States which prevents doctors from performing abortions to save the mother’s life.

ACTIVISTS SOUND ALARM ON MISSOURI ABORTION AMENDMENT: ‘INFINITELY MORE THAN ABORTION’

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, said that while pro-abortion supporters of Amendment 4 used the same playbook they have in other states, including relying on “fear mongering and misinformation,” Floridians still rejected the proposal when they found out it would open the floodgates to taxpayer-funded abortion at any time and for any reason.

“We are grateful to Governor Ron DeSantis who, from the beginning, led the effort to disrupt the pro-abortion campaign of lies and expose the ugly truth about Amendment 4,” he said.

Noemi Padilla, who worked for four years at an abortion clinic in Tampa, Florida, also applauded the news, given her first-hand experience. She said she was responsible for “the devastation that abortion has caused to women and their families – the absolute pain, regret and physical pain that women have gone through because (she) convinced them that abortion was the best and only their option”.

Pregnant woman holds her hands on her belly. (iStock)

“I spoke up in Florida for all of us who quit the abortion industry because we finally decided not to believe the lies we were being told and the lies we were telling women,” she added. “This is not only a victory for Florida, but a victory for women, for all of us who walked away from those abortion clinics that ended innocent lives and left women broken.”

Former Planned Parenthood executive Abby Johnson, who is now the founder of And Then There Were None and ProLove Ministries, echoed the same sentiment, describing Amendment 4 as “extreme.”

“Nothing is more heinous than the tearing apart of a child in the womb, which the amendment would allow in a faraway pregnancy,” she said. “I’m thankful Florida will be a beacon of hope in the protection of innocent lives.”

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.