ALERT! Anti-choice activists urge Lee County resolution against Amendment 4

David Silverberg
News

The Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting on Aug. 6, 2024. (Image: LCBC)

Aug. 14 by David Silverberg

Anti-choice activists in Lee County, Fla., are urging county commissioners to pass a resolution opposing Amendment 4 in imitation of neighboring Collier County.

Amendment 4 would amend the Florida constitution to protect a woman’s right to an abortion. It is on the general election ballot, where it must pass with a 60 percent or more approval vote to become law.

The activists, who spoke at the Aug. 6 Lee County Board of Commissioners meeting, want the commissioners to pass the same resolution that Collier County commissioners approved on June 11. (For full coverage of the Collier County resolution and vote see, “Collier County’s anti-choice resolution: What does it mean and will it make any difference?”).

Board Chair Mike Greenwell (R-District 5) instructed county staff to study and research the Collier resolution and return with their findings for the Board to consider at a later, unspecified, date.

Commissioner Mike Greenwell at the Aug.6 meeting. (Image: LCBC)

At the meeting over 20 public speakers called for passing an anti-Amendment 4 resolution, most citing religious reasons. Some called it “wicked,” “immoral,” “abhorrent” and “deceptive.”

Tara Jenner, vice chair of the Lee County Republican Party, called Amendment 4 “extreme and very poorly drafted” and reminded the commissioners that the Republican Party of Florida had taken a position against the amendment.

Tara Jenner at the Aug. 6 meeting. (Image: LCBC)

Tom Ascol, senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, said “it grieves me to see what leftists are doing to try to come in to steer our state into their horrific agenda.” He said that Amendment 4 was “something that is attempting to be done to Florida by people who don’t care about our way of life.”

Robert Roper, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Alva, after noting that the Board had passed a resolution recognizing that gopher tortoises were listed as a threatened species, urged: “Move this resolution off the table and on to the rolls of the other resolutions you passed, and be the voice of the unborn in Lee county and the state of Florida. It’s at least as important as a gopher turtle.”

There were no pro-Amendment 4 voices speaking at the meeting.

However, Dan Becker, a Lee County resident, denounced the potential resolution in a letter to the editor that ran in the Naples Daily News on Aug. 9, stating: “Our right to vote without government interference is once again under attack. Through intimidation and misinformation a fringe group of extremists are attempting to force the Lee County Board of Commissioners to pass a proclamation that opposes State Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion—Amendment 4.” He added that commissioners’ duties “do not include support or decrying voter-initiated ballot measures. We will not go back!”

The Paradise Progressive asked all five commissioners if they planned on introducing a resolution at the Aug. 20 meeting. No response had been received from any of them as of post time.

An official video of the entire 3-hour, 20-minute meeting with a transcript, posted by the Board, can be seen on YouTube. Discussion of the resolution begins at 2:00 hours into the video.

 Lee County residents can express an opinion on this matter by writing or calling their commissioners. As of this writing the agenda for the meeting had not yet been posted. Residents who sign up in person the day of the meeting can speak before the Board for 3 minutes. The Commission meeting on Aug. 20 is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Old Lee County Courthouse, 2120 Main St., downtown Fort Myers, Fla.

To contact Lee County commissioners:

All commissioners can be contacted by mail at P.O. Box 398, Fort Myers, FL 33902-0398

Commissioner Kevin Ruane, District 1

 

Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass, District 2

 

Commissioner Ray Sandelli, District 3

 

Commissioner Brian Hamman, District 4

Commissioner Mike Greenwell, District 5

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© 2024 by David Silverberg

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