Pro-choice activists in Orlando, Florida on April 13, 2024. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker

A ballot initiative aimed at enshrining abortion rights in the Florida Constitution drew another $509,328 during a week-long period at the end of June and in early July, a new finance report shows.

The Floridians Protecting Freedom political committee, which is leading efforts to pass the proposed constitutional amendment in November, had raised an overall total of $38.78 million as of July 5.

The $509,328 was raised from June 29 to July 5. Also, the committee had spent about $22.89 million as of July 5, including $160,375 during the recent week-long period.

Floridians Protecting Freedom began the constitutional-amendment drive after the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a law in 2023 to prevent women from having abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The proposal will appear as Amendment 4 on the November ballot and says, in part, that 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.”

It would need approval from 60 percent of voters to pass and has drawn opposition from DeSantis and other state Republican leaders.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

This article appears in Jul 11-17, 2024.