Caroline, a woman in Tampa, Florida, was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 20 weeks pregnant with her second child. Her first thought was would she ever be able to see her daughter again? “The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom," she says.

Caroline’s story is featured in an ad sponsored by Floridians Protecting Freedom's campaign to galvanize voters in Florida to vote “yes” on Amendment 4, Florida’s abortion initiative. If passed, the initiative would amend the Florida state constitution to prohibit government interference with the right to abortion before viability. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision, it allowed states to make their own laws regarding abortion.

Currently, Florida’s post-Dobbs abortion law makes it a felony to perform or actively participate in an abortion six weeks after gestation. Technically, the ban has exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking up to 15 weeks, and to save a woman’s life or prevent “substantial and irreversible” impairment. However, as experts have pointed out to Salon — and previous reports have shown — these exceptions are difficult to access. Likewise, women in Florida are still being denied care despite these so-called exceptions. The ad featuring the anecdote is part of Floridians Protecting Freedom's campaign strategy to connect with voters regardless of their political affiliation and elevate the issue of abortion as a nonpartisan one by sharing the personal stories of women like Caroline.

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