I don’t like to call people liars. It’s not polite, nor does it believe the best about the motives of others.
But the deliberate lies and misrepresentations being broadcast by the pro-abortion proponents in “Yes on 4” TV commercials regarding Florida’s Amendment 4 are over the top and objectively false. Even mainstream left-leaning media and news agencies are waking up to these false claims.
The Tampa Bay Times newspaper fact check gave one ad a “Mostly False” rating. Further, the CBS affiliate WINK News, a leading local news station in Southwest Florida, stopped airing an ad to push Amendment 4 because its claim was false.
Even the Florida Department of Health, an otherwise nonpolitical agency, has had to warn health care providers and television stations of the lies being disseminated by Amendment 4 proponents! They wrote publicly that the ads are “categorically false” and “dangerous” and could have a “detrimental effect on lives and health of pregnant women.”
I can respect people who have different views on this issue. But I cannot respect outright lies and false claims.
A Trifecta of Falsehood
“Yes on 4” lies can be understood in three ways:
None of the pro-Amendment 4 ads talk about the language of their own amendment or what it does — like eliminating parental consent for minor daughters, erasing the need for physicians, and enshrining abortion up to birth into Florida's constitution. Whether in print or on air, there is ZERO discussion by the “YES on 4” crowd about the legal effect of the amendment. Instead, they only misrepresent Florida’s existing abortion laws that are pitched as extreme and make false claims.
Their primary falsehood is the claim that Florida does not have exceptions for rape and incest. But exceptions do exist in Florida law for abortions through 15 weeks in cases of rape, incest, human trafficking, life of the mother, and fatal fetal abnormalities (F.S. Sec 390). Further, there is even an exception for the health of the mother when there is “a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment or a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition.”
And while we long for a Florida where every preborn baby is protected from the very beginning, it is deceptive to claim abortion exceptions don’t exist in Florida law under the heartbeat legislation.
Human stories are being exploited in these ads to preserve the profits of the abortion industry. One specific TV ad in question exploits the story of a woman named Caroline, stating that she wouldn’t have been able to get an abortion under Florida’s current pro-life law when she was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor in 2022 and needed to begin treatment. This advertisement is untrue all around. Here’s the truth: Florida’s current heartbeat law permits abortion past 6 weeks in emergency situations to save the life of the mother (with the approval of two doctors). Furthermore, abortion was not even necessary in Caroline’s situation. When Caroline received her cancer diagnosis at 21 weeks’ gestation, her baby could have been delivered prematurely and given a chance to live instead of being dismembered or injected with a cardiac arrest-inducing poison that produces a stillborn baby days later. Caroline’s abortion story is just one of the stories they are exploiting to spin a false narrative, and in turn, they are causing even more damage.
Amendment 4: Way Too Extreme, Not What It Seems
The truth is that Amendment 4 is extreme and not what it seems. Unlike most other amendments, it has no definitions. It does away with physicians and allows any “health care provider” to green-light the approval of an abortion for any health reason, including mental distress. It does away with parental consent, replacing it with merely notifying a parent that their grandchild is about to be aborted. And finally, it would lead to taxpayer funding of abortions as we just saw in Michigan with a legal challenge.
If you have to lie to win votes and make your position seem attractive, then it’s a red flag that you aren’t on the right side of the issue. Blatantly lying to the public to fool them into voting for your side is not only cruel and deceptive; it’s dangerous. If enshrined into law, Amendment 4 would remove almost every pro-life regulation designed to protect the health and safety of both women and babies, putting both in greater danger.
I don’t like to call people liars. Unless they are. In this case, Amendment 4’s claims are “liar, liar, pants on fire” false. No question about it. Even if you are pro-choice, you should vote against Amendment 4 because it is just simply bad law and removes commonsense protections for women. No definitions, no doctors, no parental consent, and taxpayer funding of elective abortions. Florida, vote No on 4.
Originally published in Florida’s Voice News.
For more from John Stemberger, click HERE.
It’s horrific. Lying is horrific. Thank you for what you do