Florida ballot organizer aims to take politics out of abortion measure

Volunteers with Floridians Protecting Freedom gather signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment on reproductive health. (Courtesy of Floridians Protecting Freedom)

Three months into her new role as communications director for Floridians Protecting Freedom, the ballot initiative campaign to reinstate abortion rights in Florida, Natasha Sutherland unexpectedly found herself canvassing a cousin who comes from her religious Jamaican side of the family and lives in the southern part of the state. A self-described trilingual Navy brat and a strategic communications adviser, Sutherland says she’ll talk to almost anyone, but was hesitant to talk to her cousin about abortion.

Sutherland has been working in Florida progressive politics and advocacy for years, but it’s her first time working on a reproductive rights-focused campaign. And what’s surprised her the most is how much the issue appears to transcend politics and religion (as demonstrated in recent public polling), especially when explaining to people how pregnancy can sometimes be life-threatening, as it would be personally for her.

“I’ve been married 14 years, no kids,” Sutherland told States Newsroom in a recent interview. “Can’t do that for medical reasons. So, for me, if we don’t win, it’s a conversation I have to have with my husband about whether or not we can still live in this state past November.”

What’s also surprised Sutherland is how many people in the state don’t seem to realize that abortion in most cases was banned three months ago. Florida’s law prohibiting abortion when cardiac activity is first detectable by ultrasound, often by six weeks’ gestation, went into effect in May, once again rocking the U.S. abortion access landscape, especially in the South. But Florida voters could reverse the ban in November. According to its ballot summary, Amendment 4, which Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is campaigning against, says 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.”

Sutherland said the Yes on 4 campaign has focused on health care and presents its message in nonpartisan terms, canvassing Democrats, Republicans and independents, or in her case, family members and strangers on planes.

The following interview has been edited and condensed.

States Newsroom: You joined the campaign in May. What motivated you to get involved?

Natasha Sutherland: It was just one of those moments where I had to answer the call to do this work. It’s a very personal issue for me on a few different levels. Number one, as a Black woman, understanding that in the rest of the country, Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy compared to their white counterparts. Actually, from what I understand, according to my partners at the ACLU, it’s four times more likely in the state of Florida. So, you think about things like maternal mortality, you think about things like, we don’t have the extension of Medicaid, we don’t have as much access to health care options. All of those things in a state like Florida for me really paints a picture of just how dangerous the near-total abortion ban is in our state.

SN: Do you have a lot of family living in Florida?

Sutherland: As somebody who has lived in Florida off and on since 2003, my roots go as far back as my grandpa, who immigrated here from Jamaica and started as a farm worker in the sugar cane fields of Florida. I still have family that once they all eventually moved to the States and were able to get their citizenship, most of them do live in South Florida to this day. Florida is really near and dear to my heart, and I think that an issue like this, you know, being able to restore access to nearly 22 million people to have access to abortion care is really important. I also have a 13-year-old niece who is growing up here. So, I want her to have a future in this state that allows for her to be able to get basic health care. I had an aunt that actually did pass away from pregnancy complications and was not able to get the abortion that she needed.

SN: What can you share about your aunt’s situation?

Sutherland: This was at least a decade or so ago. So this was before the Dobbs decision. My understanding is that she was septic. I’m not clear on the timing of that, as far as whether or not it was an issue. Half of me is Jamaican, very religious. So, I’m not clear on whether or not there might have been some elements there of, like, personal reasons, or if it was an issue with the doctor, or what. I don’t have all the details, because my family’s like, we don’t talk about that.

SN: Have you been talking more about abortion with your family now that you’re working on this campaign?

Sutherland: With my family, it’s one of those things where there’s an understanding, number one, that I’ve always been connected, in some form or fashion, to the political world, as far as my career, and so, we don’t ever really talk [about this]. This is extended family. Immediate family, like my dad and my siblings, absolutely, we can talk about it, not a problem. We’re all on the same page about all of this, which is really interesting, because if you were to ask me 20 years ago if I could talk to my dad about abortion, I would tell you, heck no, there’s no way. He is a religious person, he’s a Baptist, and he’s Jamaican, and, you know, Black and a man. And so there were all these different layers to, you know, 20 years ago, when I was in my 20s, like, I just would not have had those conversations. But I think that the political landscape of the country since then, and you know, social media, and the opportunities, I think that people have to have conversations a lot of different ways.

SN: What do you mean by that?

Sutherland: So, for example, my Jamaican side, we have a WhatsApp, which has all of our relatives in it, to include relatives that are still in Jamaica, relatives that instead went to England, some that went to Canada, and the ones that came to the U.S. We talk about all kinds of stuff in that chat, but every single morning the chat starts with a verse from the Bible. And so for me to then – actually, yesterday – call one of the cousins of mine who was in that chat, and somebody who lives in South Florida and say to her, “Hey, you know, I’m working at this campaign and we’re thinking about having some some messengers and we’re looking for specifically a Black doctor, and just wondering if you happen to have one.” So, then we engage in a conversation, and I eventually do kind of talk through the fact that I work at an abortion campaign, what that means. It was really interesting because I thought she would shut down in that conversation and not really want to talk to me more about it, but instead she came from it like from a place of curiosity.

And that’s when we talked about that aunt, and I said, “Hey, do you remember our aunt who had died? I think it sounds like she needed an abortion.” She’s like, “She was just miscarrying. I don’t understand. How is that an abortion?” And I said, “Well, that’s what the procedure is called.” And then when I explained that under the near-total abortion ban right now, you know, we’re getting stories from doctors that are afraid to give care. And she’s like, “Well, you have to do this then; like, it makes so much sense that you’re doing this job.”

SN: Are people generally knowledgeable about Florida’s current six-week ban and about this ballot initiative?

Sutherland: It’s been pretty limited regarding the knowledge of the near-total abortion ban in Florida, but also the knowledge of the amendment. I understand that folks are worried about a lot of different things, cost of living, kids are getting ready to go back to school. So, I definitely understand for folks that they may not be as aware of what’s happening – until they need care. That’s when folks are finding out that there’s a ban, when it’s too late for them to get the care that they need. When their doctor is telling them, “I’m sorry, I cannot treat you for this miscarriage; you’re going to have to figure out getting abortion care outside of the state.” That just means we really need to roll up our sleeves and be focused on increasing our communication outreach efforts to ensure that every voter is able to make an informed decision in November.

SN: Given the 60% requirement for the ballot measure, how are you feeling about the likelihood it will pass?

Sutherland: I’m feeling really good about it. We’ve done, up to this point, about 53,000 contact attempts, completely nonpartisan. Our messaging is nonpartisan, and our targeting is nonpartisan. So far, it’s been supportive and lots of encouragement. We’ve got the 60% threshold, but we’ve been able to accomplish that in the past with things like the restoration of voting rights for returning citizens, with raising the state minimum wage, with medical marijuana, with environmental initiatives. So for whatever reason, I know that the national landscape is like, oh, Florida’s a red state, but we have still managed to pass ballot initiatives that would be seen as more left or more Democratic. So I think that when the people have the opportunity to make their own decisions, they’re going to be with us on this.

SN: You haven’t been hearing much opposition to the amendment?

Sutherland: I’ve actually been surprised with the positive reception that we’ve had. Especially in a state like Florida, not only are we racially very diverse, we are also country-of-origin incredibly diverse. We have folks from Cuba, from Venezuela, we have Haitians voters. We have Jamaican, we have everything. And then linguistically diverse, but then also religiously. … Some of these religious folks will say, “Well, I’m not pro-abortion, but I’m also not pro the government telling my neighbor or my friend what they can and can’t do with their bodies.”

One of the things that I’ve noticed in these conversations with everyday people here in the state is that when you take the politics out of it, the issue stands alone.

SN: What are some of the challenges the campaign has faced so far?

Sutherland: Florida is massive. It takes you nine hours to go from where I live in Tallahassee to Miami. And then again, 20, almost 22 million people, 10 media markets, at least three major languages. And it’s a really expensive state. For example, a TV spot that, like Kansas might have had, would have cost $3 to $4 million; to do that same spot, it’s going to cost us, like, $8 to $9 million. It’s a pretty big lift to do a statewide campaign in a state like this. But our true north is the 84,000-plus patients that need this care.

If we’re not able to pass this amendment in November, we’re looking at potentially decades before we have any sort of durable federal protections for abortion in the state. In November, we’re going to have young women that are maybe voting for the very first time, and if it doesn’t pass, they may be facing menopause by the time there are any protections in place for them and their health care.