Florida voters declined to reinstate abortion rights into the state's Constitution on Tuesday, leaving in place restrictive six-week abortion ban that makes it nearly impossible to get an abortion in the South.

The state's abortion ballot initiative, Amendment 4, fell just short of the necessary 60% approval required to pass, with 58% of Floridians voting "yes" and 42% voting "no."

Florida was one of 10 states to vote on abortion this election. All other ballot measures required just 50% of the vote to pass.

The initiative sought to prohibit any laws that “penalize, delay, or restrict abortion” before fetal viability. Florida previously had a 15-week abortion ban and was a refuge for women seeking abortions in the South. But the state enacted a six-week abortion ban in May, joining neighboring states Georgia and North Carolina. The ban has exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking up to 15 weeks, but are difficult to access. 

The outcome marks a major victory for Gov. Ron DeSantis, who deployed a number of state resources to defeat the bill including a taxpayer funded website and an investigation into signees of the bill’s petition. He also spent two weeks touring the state criticizing Amendment 4 alongside anti-abortion doctors. 

Abortion-rights advocates raised nearly $100 million to get Amendment 4 on the ballot, the most of any abortion-rights ballot initiative this election. Before this year, abortion ballot measures have been successful in every state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

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