SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
When Donald Trump first ran for president, he did so promising to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices, justices who would overturn the right to abortion access in the United States.
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DONALD TRUMP: Well, if we put another two or perhaps three justices on, that's really what's going to be - that's - will happen. And that'll happen automatically, in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court.
DETROW: In fact, all three justices Trump nominated to the bench as president did vote to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. But since then, it has become increasingly clear that more voters want to expand rather than restrict abortion rights. So in this campaign, Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself from that landmark moment and many of the restrictive state laws it led to. Still, as a Florida resident, he'll have to vote on the matter himself. The state has a ballot initiative this fall that would overturn a recent law banning abortions more than six weeks into a pregnancy. In recent days, Trump has given multiple contradictory statements about that initiative, called Amendment 4. Last night, he said he would vote against it.
Joining us now is Romy Ellenbogen, Tallahassee correspondent with the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald, who's been covering the twists and turns of all of this. Hey there.
ROMY ELLENBOGEN: Hey. How are you?
DETROW: I'm good. Thanks for joining us. And let's start with Amendment 4. Can you recap for us non-Floridians what specifically the measure would do?
ELLENBOGEN: Yeah, absolutely. The amendment is pretty brief. It basically says that no law could prohibit, delay, restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health as determined by their health care provider. So in essence, if it passes, it means that Florida's six-week ban that's currently on the books would be undone.
DETROW: OK. So voting against the measure is basically voting for the status quo law, which bans after six weeks.
ELLENBOGEN: Correct. If someone voted against the measure, it would keep the law in place with abortion restrictions.
DETROW: Let's talk about Donald Trump, who is voting in Florida this year but also running for president. Can you walk us through the different statements he's made in the last few days alone about this measure?
ELLENBOGEN: Yeah. You know, first, at his news conference in Mar-a-Lago, he sort of dodged a direct question about how he would be voting on Amendment 4 and promised he would say something at a later time. And then weeks passed, and there was really no comment, you know, that he made on Amendment 4. And then in an interview with NBC earlier this week, he reiterated something he said before, which is that Florida's six-week ban is too short.
But then when asked by a reporter if that meant he was voting yes, he said it meant that he would be voting that we need more than six weeks. The Trump campaign sort of swooped in and clarified, said, hey, this isn't him saying that he will or won't vote for it. He's just reiterating that he thinks six weeks is too short. And then 24 hours later, Friday afternoon, he says in an interview with Fox News that he will, in fact, be voting no on the amendment, which was the first time he had directly answered what he would be doing in November.
DETROW: How much has this back-and-forth over somebody running for president voting for it or not overshadowed the broader campaign on this measure?
ELLENBOGEN: I don't know that it has overshadowed it. I mean, both candidates running for president have really highlighted Amendment 4 and abortion broadly when they've talked about Florida. The Democrats, I guess I should say, have been on offense there, and maybe Trump's campaign has been a little bit more on defense. But this is an issue on the ballot in November, and I think the candidates see that and understand that and have been using it as they are on the trail.
DETROW: Do we have a sense of what the public polling is on Amendment 4 right now?
ELLENBOGEN: Yeah. It's varied. Some polls have it sort of just below passage. Florida does have a high bar. It needs 60% of voter support to pass, compared to 50 or a majority support. Some polls have it at, you know, 57. Some polls have it higher than 60. The highest I've seen is 69%. But we're also far out from where the campaign really starts going on either side. Yeah.
DETROW: What will you be watching for over the coming weeks on this?
ELLENBOGEN: Yeah. I would say I'm expecting more money to pour in from out of state on both sides. Governor DeSantis has vowed to fight this amendment and is a prolific fundraiser, has been a prolific fundraiser in the past for his gubernatorial campaign, and we've already seen Floridians Protecting Freedom, who supports the amendment and put the amendment on the ballot, getting money from major organizations, you know, now that it's official.
DETROW: That is Romy Ellenbogen, Tallahassee correspondent with the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald. Thanks a lot.
ELLENBOGEN: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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