PRESS RELEASE: Equality Florida Applauds Vote Rejecting Attack on Constitutional Right to Privacy
Measure Expected Return for Vote By the Full Constitutional Review Commission
Equality Florida joined a diverse coalition opposing the measure including The Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, Florida NOW, The Florida League of Women Voters, the Florida ACLU and the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar Association. Testimony from both proponents and opponents made clear what this is really about - dramatically narrowing the constitutional right to privacy in personal health care decisions and specifically a woman’s right to have an abortion.
“This proposal, brought by one of Florida’s leading anti-LGBTQ acitivists, is a direct attack on the fundamental right to privacy which has long informed the legal basis for both reproductive freedom and LGBTQ rights,” said Equality Florida Senior Political Director Joe Saunders. “There is nothing more fundamental to a woman’s private life than the right to decide the most intimate, personal and difficult decision of whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term. We applaud the overwhelming opposition from the CRC Judiciary Committee who saw this for what it was - an attack on the agency of women and families in Florida.”
Proposal 22 passed it’s first committee of reference 4 - 3 before being voted down. While Proposal 22 was defeated in the Judicial Committee, it could still be taken up for a vote by the full Commission. Equality Florida continues to monitor this and other proposals that pose a threat to the basic rights of LGBT Floridians.
Quotes from Thursday’s Hearing:
CRC Commissioner Arthenia Joyner: “This proposal has one purpose and one purpose only. To Strip a woman's right to choose. It does so by gutting our state's personal privacy protections. The ones that stand in the way of government overreach and intrusion, surveillance of our daily movements, restrictions of the choices we make, and the freedom to make those choices.
"In order to oppose someone else’s morality on the women in this state, supporters are willing to strip the protections ... of personal autonomy and liberty of all Floridians,” said Commissioner Arthenia Joyner before voting against the proposal. “Child rearing, marriage, grandparenting, life sustaining measures, medical decisions, homeschooling--all of these fall under the protection of personal autonomy.”