KELSEY PRITCHARD: Republicans Should Follow DeSantis’ Lead In Opposing Pro-Abortion Ballot Measures

Pro-abortion ballot measures will be in front of voters in six red states this November. If passed, these measures would ensure taxpayer funding of abortion, eliminate parental rights, eviscerate health protections for women, and — worst of all — enshrine all-trimester abortion.

These amendments have largely been written by the ACLU and are fundedby George Soros, the abortion industry and far-left groups.

Public officials in Florida are modeling what leaders in every state must do to stop these radical abortion ballot measures. Florida’s proposed measure, known as Amendment 4, was trending on X recently as Attorney General Ashley Moody, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and state CFO Jimmy Patronis pledged financial support to stop Planned Parenthood’s profit-driven initiative. Six Florida Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives — Rep. Byron Donalds, Rep. Neal Dunn, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Cory Mills, Rep. Aaron Bean and Rep. Greg Steube — came out against the measure. Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon emerged as a member of the advisory board of a group fighting the amendment called Keep Florida Pro-Life, holding a fundraising event in Palm Beach. Even Ben Shapiro tweeted his concerns.

The surge in opposition is, in many ways, thanks to the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Since the state Supreme Court ruled to allow Amendment 4 on the ballot, the governor has been leading the fight to raise money and inform voters that the amendment will enshrine all-trimester abortions, ensure taxpayer-funded abortion and end parental consent. “It guarantees abortion all the way until the moment of birth and it’s written in a way to try to massage that but basically if you have a ‘healthcare provider’ who says that there should be an abortion, then you can do it. It doesn’t even require a physician,” says DeSantis in a video on X.

Beyond Florida, there are five other red states that could have abortion on the ballot: Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Arizona and Montana. Republicans in these states have yet to be as engaged in the fight as DeSantis and their counterparts in Florida, though there are examples of GOP leadership.

Gubernatorial candidate Mike Kehoe made a strong statement against Missouri’s amendment saying: “I will do everything I can — sacrificing even my own campaign — to bring people together to let them know how bad that initiative would be.” In Nebraska, Gov. Jim Pillen spoke out against Planned Parenthood’s all-trimester abortion measure right when the language was released and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts is a leader of the effort to give voters an alternative that would protect babies in the second and third trimesters. Many state lawmakers have sounded the alarm in these states including in South Dakota where Rep. Jon Hansen is a leader of the group opposing Amendment G and those in leadership like state-legislature representatives Taylor Rehfeldt and Will Mortenson held a hearing to shed light on the measure’s extreme implications.

There are also constitutional officers like Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen who withstood pressure from the abortion lobby and did their jobs by adhering to their state’s requirements on ballot measures.

There are certainly more Republicans in these five states than I have listed here who have spoken out about the all-trimester abortion amendments. But far too many have not. Outside of DeSantis, executive branch officials in Florida and Ricketts, none have fully thrown their weight behind fundraising efforts.

There is not a moment to lose now that we are less than two months out from Election Day.

Kelsey Pritchard is a South Dakota mom of three and state public affairs director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

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