Florida Right to Life's Lynda Bell explains that the proposed measure would keep abortions legal up to viability, which she says has been turned into a confusing word. One definition for it is a healthy pregnancy.
"The other term for viability means when a baby can survive outside the womb," Bell details. "So now we're talking about the end of a second trimester abortion, but a lot of people don't understand that. When they use the term 'viable' or 'viability,' it's really very challenging, and it's very, very deceptive."
The measure would also legalize abortions at any stage for the sake of the mother's health.
"Health can be anything that the mother and the abortionist decides health means," Bell notes. "It can be your mental health, it can be your physical health, it can be a hangnail. When they say 'health of the mother,' people automatically assume life of the mother, and that is absolutely false."
A group called Floridians Protecting Freedom has gathered 400,000 of the 891,000 signatures needed to put the measure on a future ballot. Attorney General Ashley Moody, who opposes the proposal, notified Supreme Court justices Monday that the petition has reached enough signatures to trigger a review of the ballot language.
If the abortion amendment makes the ballot and is approved by at least 60% of votes cast, it would allow a mother to end her preborn baby's life until the point the child can survive outside the womb -- generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks, but there is no universal consensus, and some hospitals will resuscitate and actively treat babies born in the 22nd week.
