Anti-Abortion Doctors Take Credit for Failure of Florida, South Dakota Abortion Amendments

The anti-abortion doctors who appeared alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis for four of his events campaigning against Florida's now-failed abortion amendment are lauding themselves and their parent group for defeating measures in Florida and South Dakota that would have enshrined abortion access in the states' constitutions.

While the non-profit American Association for Pro-Life OBGYNS (AAPLOG) failed to strike a pro-abortion ballot amendment in Arizona, they succeeded in deep-red South Dakota and Florida, the third-largest state in the country.

"In the weeks leading up to Election Day, our physicians barnstormed the state, holding half a dozen major press events alongside Governor Ron DeSantis,” said Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of AAPLOG Action, in a Thursday morning statement. She pointed to the Florida branch of AAPLOG, called Florida Physicians Against Amendment 4, which boasted 718 anti-abortion doctors who reached over "half a million Florida voters" with their social media.

Florida's Amendment 4 needed 60 percent approval to pass; instead, it got 57 percent and became the first ballot amendment in state history to exceed 6 million "yes" votes and still fail.

"Amendment 4 was bad for doctors and bad for women. We’re proud of everything our doctors did to defeat it," she added. AAPLOG had another arm in South Dakota called "Doctors for Dakotans," which secured enough media attention to help defeat the measure, the group claims.

"Our doctor’s voices were critical in truly demonstrating that South Dakota’s laws work to protect the lives of women in our state," said South Dakota Secretary of Health Melissa Magstadt, pleased that the state's near-total abortion ban would stay in place. "Thank you to the physicians who brought their expertise to this crucial election decision."

While South Dakota is a traditionally red state known for supporting conservative measures, Florida is relatively new to being deep-red. This gave hope to pro-abortion advocates, furious at the DeSantis-backed six-week abortion ban, while striking fear into the state's conservative leaders after summer polls showed Amendment 4 floating far above the 60 percent threshold needed to pass.

So on Oct. 21, the first day of early voting in most counties, DeSantis partnered with Florida Physicians Against Amendment 4 to kick off a statewide campaign tour advocating against the amendment. The two powerhouses called it dangerous and cruel, worrying that some of its terms could lead to taxpayer-funded abortions and "abortion on demand."

A series of litigation ensued on both sides, but ultimately, Amendment 4 failed with 57.15% support approval; less than three percentage points away from the "pass" threshold.

Similar ballot amendments to enshrine abortion access were passed Tuesday in Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, and New York, though all states already allowed the procedure at least through fetal viability (around 24 weeks) or had no defined restrictions in place. The real victories for pro-choice activists were in Missouri and Arizona.

Missouri was the first state to ban abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, including removing exceptions for rape and incest. The procedure was only allowed in cases of medical emergencies. But now, with the passage of Amendment 3, abortions will be legal until fetal viability.

Arizona, meanwhile, overturned their 15-week ban on abortion and similarly enshrined abortion until viability in their constitution with Prop. 39—a sticking point for AAPLOG.

"It’s deeply concerning that Prop. 139 will now become the law in Arizona, which puts Arizona women, our patients, in danger of experiencing severe complications when obtaining induced abortions," said Dr. Erica Kreller, an OBGYN part of AAPLOG's Arizona Physicians Against Prop. 39, which had over 200 members. "Now Arizona law will endanger my patients.”

Aside from Florida and South Dakota, Nebraska similarly voted against an amendment to protect abortion. In their case, however, they had two amendments on the ballot: one to prohibit abortions after the first trimester, and another to allow the procedure until viability.

Voters chose the former.

Of note, Democrats had hoped that liberal initiatives like abortion would help drive out more support for their candidates. While every amendment garnered significant attention—most of it positive—this did not translate into more support for Democrat candidates: President-elect Donald Trump won every state with abortion on the ballot except for the traditionally blue states of Maryland, Colorado, and New York.

Vice President Kamala Harris won all of them by a lesser margin than President Joe Biden.