Florida Right to Life of Preborn Individual Initiative (2024)

Florida Right to Life of Preborn Individual Initiative

Election date
November 5, 2024
Topic
Abortion
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment| Origin
Citizens

* * *

The Florida Right to Life of Preborn Individual Initiative (Initiative #22-03) was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 5, 2024.

The ballot measure would have amended Florida Declaration of Rights to state: "The right to life of the preborn individual is God-given, thus unalienable and recognized accordingly. Therefore, it shall not be infringed at any stage of development."[1]

The ballot measure would have defined the term preborn individual as "a preborn human person at any stage of development."[1]

## Contents

* 1 Text of measure
* 1.1 Ballot title
* 1.2 Ballot summary
* 1.3 Full text
* 2 Path to the ballot
* 2.1 The state process
* 2.2 Details about the initiative
* 3 External links
* 4 Footnotes

## Text of measure[edit]

### Ballot title[edit]

The ballot title was as follows:[1]

“  | Human Life Protection Amendment[2] | ”

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### Ballot summary[edit]

The proposed ballot summary was as follows:[1]

“  | An amendment recognizing the God-given right to life of the preborn individual. Defines "preborn individual" as a preborn human person at any stage of development. Affirms that life-saving procedures to save the life of the mother shall not be construed as a violation when accompanied by reasonable steps to save the life of the preborn individual. To be added to the Declaration of Rights under Article I of the Florida Constitution.[2] | ”

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### Full text[edit]

The full text can be accessed here.

## Path to the ballot[edit]

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Florida

### The state process[edit]

In Florida, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8% of the votes cast in the preceding presidential election. Florida also has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures equaling at least 8% of the district-wide vote in the last presidential election be collected from at least half (14) of the state's 28 congressional districts. Signatures remain valid until February 1 of an even-numbered year.[3] Signatures must be verified by February 1 of the general election year the initiative aims to appear on the ballot.

Proposed measures are reviewed by the state attorney general and state supreme court after proponents collect 25% of the required signatures across the state in each of one-half of the state's congressional districts (222,898 signatures for 2024 ballot measures). After these preliminary signatures have been collected, the secretary of state must submit the proposal to the Florida Attorney General and the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC). The attorney general is required to petition the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the measure's compliance with the single-subject rule, the appropriateness of the title and summary, and whether or not the measure "is facially invalid under the United States Constitution."[4]

The requirements to get an initiative certified for the 2024 ballot:

* Signatures: 891,523 valid signatures
* Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was February 1, 2024. As election officials have 30 days to check signatures, petitions should be submitted at least one month before the verification deadline.

In Florida, proponents of an initiative file signatures with local elections supervisors, who are responsible for verifying signatures. Supervisors are permitted to use random sampling if the process can estimate the number of valid signatures with 99.5% accuracy. Enough signatures are considered valid if the random sample estimates that at least 115% of the required number of signatures are valid.

### Details about the initiative[edit]

* The organization Protect Human Life Florida filed the ballot initiative, which was approved for signature gathering on August 12, 2022.[1]
* Signatures were not submitted by the deadline.

## External links[edit]

* Initiative 22-03

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Florida Division of Elections, "Initiative #22-03," accessed August 25, 2022
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
3. ↑ Before the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1794 of 2020, signatures remained valid for a period of two years
4. ↑ Florida State Senate, "Florida Senate Bill 1794," accessed April 13, 2020

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