Commissioner Smith explains opposition to the action
It took less than 5 minutes on Sept 10 for the Sarasota County Commission to approve a resolution opposing Amendment 4, which will appear on the Nov. 5 General Election Ballot.
The amendment says, “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. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
Commissioner Mark Smith was the only board member to vote “No.”
He explained, “I, in general, have a bit of an issue just with the board bringing up resolutions that are on the ballot. … I don’t think our job is to direct voting.”
“I’m pro-life,” Smith did acknowledge, “but I’m also pro-mothers’ life, and there’s issues with incest and rape, as well as the health of the mother [that] I don’t believe either the amendment or this resolution takes care of.”
Commissioners Neil Rainford, Joe Neunder and Ron Cutsinger all stressed their pro-life positions after Smith offered his remarks, though Cutsinger said he understood Smith’s points.
“I think, you know, this board has taken, you know, some pretty bold steps in the past to protect life and public safety in the county,” Rainford said. Approving the resolution, he continued, would make more people aware of Amendment 4, and the resolution “ultimately protects the life of the unborn child.”
“I agree,” Cutsinger said. “I think the [amendment] is very vague, very unclear …” He added, “I’m personally, strongly pro-life.’
Moreover, Cutsinger told his colleagues, “I think it’s OK for us as a commission to let that be known to our community.”
Neunder noted that he has made it clear on a number of occasions that he is a practicing Roman Catholic. “I believe in the protection of life,” he continued. “I also believe in the protection of the mother.”
Neunder added, “We certainly have the ability to expound on our views from this dais [in regard to] what we think is important. In my mind, this one is very important.”
Chair Michael Moran had asked County Attorney Joshua Moye to draft the resolution after a Venice resident, Sally Nista, addressed the board members during their Aug. 27 meeting, urging them to take such a stand.
‘Political pandering’ versus ‘You are the voice of the unborn’
Five speakers addressed the proposed action during the Open to the Public comment period of the commission’s regular meeting in Sarasota on Sept. 10. Three of them expressed support for Amendment 4.
Sarah Parker, a county resident and the executive director of Voices of Florida, told the board members, “Amendment 4 is taking politicians out of deeply personal and complicated issues …
“This is a waste of your time, my time, and the constituents in this room’s time — as much as a waste of time as passing a resolution against hurricanes,” Parker stressed. “Focus on houselessness, waterways and roads. That’s your job,” she added.
At one point, she characterized County Commission action on the amendment as “political pandering.”
“If you want to make this about children and women, which this is not,” Parker continued, she could offer the board members some suggestions. For example, she said, “Where’s the resolution for the Black maternal mortality rate? We have one of the highest Black maternal mortality rates. That means Black women are more likely to die in labor than any other race.”
Another speaker, Clayton Taylor, who said he has lived in the county since 2015, thanked the commissioners for “their brave leadership in support of life.”
Taylor added, “It is so important that we respect life, and this Amendment No. 4 is all about death.”
Rod Myers, a minister and past chair of the board of directors of the Sarasota Medical Pregnancy Center, pointed out that the Lee County Commission had approved a resolution comparable to the one the Sarasota County board members would address that day. “So there’s a precedent in the state for this.”
Myers offered a number of reasons he believed the Sarasota County Commission should approve the resolution. Among them, he told the board members, “The unborn do not have a voice in this assembly. … You are the voice of the unborn.”
Without mentioning Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida by name, Myers added that Sarasota is the headquarters “for one of the largest abortion providers in the state.” If the amendment passes in November, he continued, Sarasota will become “an abortion destination [for women living in states with stricter abortion laws].”
The Sarasota County resolution “can bring light” to Amendment 4, he said.
Another supporter of the amendment, Amanda Langworthy of Sarasota, noted that the resolution on the Sept. 10 agenda “appears to have been introduced at the last minute to avoid public scrutiny. … This proclamation is not your job,” she added.
Having worked the past summer in Sarasota, gathering signatures on petitions to get Amendment 4 on the November ballot, Langworthy continued, she knows that many of the commissioners’ constituents support Amendment 4. “People have a right to privacy,” she pointed out. “They have the right to make their own medical decisions.”
I am appalled that our County Commissioners believe that it is their job to publicly vote a resolution to oppose Amendment 4. How is this part of their job? Smith is right. It is not their job to direct voters and especially on an issue that has nothing to do with their duties and responsibilities. “Brave leadership”? Absolutely not. More like shocking partisanship.