Florida Democrats went on th offense over abortion rights Wednesday, a day after Kansas voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed lawmakers to pass future restrictions on abortions, including an outright ban.

“Abortion rights won in Kansas last night,” tweeted Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried. “And I just held a press conference to remind Ron DeSantis that they’ll be on the ballot this November, too.”

“I really stress to my constituents and Floridians everywhere that abortion is on the ballot this November,” said Orlando Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani. “Because if you vote ‘no’ on DeSantis, you’re voting no on abortion bans. Bottom line. Period.”

Political analysts have been uncertain about how significant the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing a federal right to abortion will have in this fall’s election. The decision put the matter back to the 50 individual states. Currently, abortion is now illegal or heavily restricted in 12 states.

In Florida, the GOP-led Legislature passed a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape, incest or human trafficking. 

With President Joe Biden’s poll numbers mired in the upper 30’s and inflation at a 41-year-high, expectations have been cast for months that the GOP is set to do exceedingly well in this November’s midterm election. But with the potential passage of what is being called the "inflation reduction act" and now this week's vote on abortion rights in Kansas, could those predictions turn out differently this fall?

“I don’t think it plays any part in the average voter because anyone who has strong enough feelings about abortion is already decided that they’re a ‘D’ or an ‘R,” says Hillsborough County GOP Rep. Mike Beltran.

Beltran considers himself one of the most anti-abortion rights members in the Florida House, but believes that most voters aren’t putting abortion rights as their one number factor in how they’ll vote this fall.

“You’re talking about the middle,” he says. “I’m strong about it. I’m loud about it. Most people are not. Most people are trying to feed their families and get their kids to school and hold down their job and save for retirement.”

Eskamani, who previously worked for Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, says that there have been preliminary discussions among reproductive rights advocates to attempt to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to protect abortion rights.

“There are conversations among coalition partners and reproductive rights leaders to pursue a ballot amendment to ensure protect abortion rights in 2024,” she told Spectrum Bay News 9. “So that is a conversation happening and it’s very preliminary, but those spaces are organically forming.”

Putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot in Florida is no easy task, however, and recent laws have made it more daunting than ever to get the nearly 900,000 signatures required. And as Beltran acknowledges, any measure would need to get 60% support. He doesn’t believe that such a measure from either side of the debate would be able to collect that much support.

“I don’t think we get there on 60 percent,” he says. “I don’t think they get there on 60 percent.”

A poll of 600 Floridians released last month by USF and Florida International University found that 57 percent of those surveyed said that they disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe.

Beltran also believes that such issues should be decided by the Legislature, and not by popular vote.

Florida’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks just went into effect last month, and is being challenged in the courts. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said very little about enacting further restrictions, prompting the Florida Democratic Party to issue a statement on Wednesday accusing the governor of “dodging” questions about potential further abortion restrictions in the state.

Beltran says that he supports a complete ban on abortions in Florida, but he says that in talking to some of his Republican colleagues, he believes that an effort to get a “heartbeat” bill that bans abortions after six weeks could be voted on when lawmakers return to Tallahassee next year for the legislative session.