Florida Voters Against Extremism is a Florida political committee (PAC) that opposed Florida Amendment 4, the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” in the November 2024 elections. ¹ Other organizations that opposed Florida Amendment 4 include Life First PC, Keep Florida Pro Life, Do No Harm Florida, and the Florida Freedom Fund. ²

Amendment 4 needed 60 percent of the vote to be approved. It failed to achieve the supermajority threshold and was not adopted into Florida law. ³

Activities

Florida Voters Against Extremism, a political committee that opposed Florida Amendment 4, the “Right to Abortion Initiative,” in the November 2024 elections, operated the website Vote No on 4 and called the proposed amendment deceptive and extreme. ⁴

It claimed the amendment failed to define any of its key terms or the seriousness of a health concern that would allow an exception for a late-term abortion, ultimately creating loopholes allowing for more late-pregnancy abortions. Vote No on 4 also claimed that the proposed amendment would allow minors to receive abortions without parental consent, would provide even fewer protections for unborn babies than were allowed under Roe v. Wade, and would force Florida taxpayers to fund abortions. ⁵

Florida Amendment 4

Florida Amendment 4, the Right to Abortion Initiative, was an initiated constitutional amendment on the ballot in Florida on November 5, 2024. The initiative was sponsored by Floridians Protecting Freedom, a coalition campaign whose partners included left-of-center groups like the ACLU of Florida, Florida Rising, Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida, Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, SEIU 1199 Florida, Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Proponents of Amendment 4 claimed that Florida’s six-week abortion ban had serious negative impacts on women and that an “overwhelming majority” of Floridians support limiting government interference with abortion decisions. ⁶

If passed, Florida Amendment 4 would have enshrined in the Florida state constitution the right to an abortion “before viability” or as deemed medically necessary by a healthcare provider to “protect the patient’s health.” The initiative, however, would not have impacted the existing constitutional provision that would allow for a law requiring that parents be notified before a minor can receive an abortion. ⁷

Amendment 4 needed 60 percent of the vote to be approved. It received over 6.07 million votes in favor of its passage (57.17 percent) while receiving nearly 4.55 million against its passage (42.83 percent) and was defeated. ⁷

Funding

Florida Voters Against Extremism was funded primarily by small donations from individual donors. In total, Florida Voters Against Extremism raised over $3.38 million in monetary donations and $312,870 in in-kind donations. The largest donation to Florida Voters Against Extremism came from Conservatives for Principled Leadership ($1.057 million). ⁸

As of August 30, 2024, opponents of Amendment 4, which, in addition to Florida Voters Against Extremism, included Life First PC, Keep Florida Pro Life, Do No Harm Florida, and the Florida Freedom Fund, had raised $5.07 million in cash donations. ⁹

Leadership

Mary Jo O’Sullivan was the chair of Florida Voters Against Extremism and a professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami. O’Sullivan formerly worked as the head of the Maternal Fetal Medicine Division at the Jackson Memorial Medical Center. ¹⁰

Noreen Fenner was the treasurer of Florida Voters Against Extremism and the president of both Bundle Track US and PAC Financial Management. ¹¹

1. Fisher, Nicole. “Right-to-abortion ballot measure campaigns reported 10 times more in contributions than opposition campaigns in 2024 so far.” Ballotpedia, September 27, 2024. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://news.ballotpedia.org/2024/09/27/right-to-abortion-ballot-measure-campaigns-reported-10-times-more-in-contributions-than-opposition-campaigns-in-2024-so-far/.
2. Fisher, Nicole. “Right-to-abortion ballot measure campaigns reported 10 times more in contributions than opposition campaigns in 2024 so far.” Ballotpedia, September 27, 2024. Accessed February 6, 2025. https://news.ballotpedia.org/2024/09/27/right-to-abortion-ballot-measure-campaigns-reported-10-times-more-in-contributions-than-opposition-campaigns-in-2024-so-far/.
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9. Fisher, Nicole. “Right-to-abortion ballot measure campaigns reported 10 times more in contributions than opposition campaigns in 2024 so far.” Ballotpedia, September 27, 2024. Accessed January 23, 2025. https://news.ballotpedia.org/2024/09/27/right-to-abortion-ballot-measure-campaigns-reported-10-times-more-in-contributions-than-opposition-campaigns-in-2024-so-far/.
10. Krull, Jeanne Antol. “Mission of Dreams: A Kabul Chronicle.” University of Miami Medicine Magazine, Winter 2007. Accessed February 7, 2025. https://www6.miami.edu/ummedicine-magazine/winter2007/featurestory3.html.
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