A constitutional amendment limiting government interference with the practice of abortion will go before state voters this fall as a result of a 4-3 Florida Supreme Court decision approving the measure’s ballot wording. 

The state’s high court signed off on the initiative sponsored by the group Floridians Protecting Freedom Inc. on April 1. Supporters of Amendment 4 include certain Republican elected officials, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and some law professors. Attorney General Ashley Moody, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops and other groups opposed to abortion argued that the amendment should be rejected.

The text of the ballot summary, which will go before voters on Nov. 5, states, “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”