Karlie Kloss: I saw the impact of the Florida abortion ban. That’s why I’m voting ‘Yes’ on Amendment 4

Last month, I sat next to a patient I’ll call Sarah at the Michael Benjamin abortion clinic in Tamarac, Florida.

Sarah was one of the lucky ones. She found out she was pregnant and made an appointment before the state’s new draconian deadline banning abortion after six weeks.

Most women don’t even know they’re pregnant at six weeks. In addition to the ban, Florida law also requires patients to have an ultrasound at least 24 hours before an abortion (further delaying access to care) and to review a pamphlet about fetal development and abortion alternatives. Neither of these things is medically necessary.

On that hot July afternoon, Sarah tearfully explained that she was now a mother and that she and her husband were struggling financially to care for their four children, one of whom has a physical disability and requires 24-hour care.

Sarah’s story was one of many I heard that day that are playing out right now across the state.

In fact, it is estimated that five million women throughout Florida (and 25 million at the national level) cannot make that decision.

Instead, state lawmakers who oppose abortion are doing what is in their favor. One in three American women of childbearing age currently lives under an abortion ban.

As I sat and listened to Sarah, my heart broke thinking about the women in Florida and across the United States who are being denied reproductive health care.

I have been involved with this issue since I was a teenager. Growing up, I trained as a clinical companion at Planned Parenthood near my hometown in St. Louis, Missouri.

Years later, I became involved with the Abortion Bridge Collaborative Fund, which funds independent abortion clinics and organizations that support them, and dozens of other clinics like CHOICES in Carbondale, IL.

When the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade In 2022, as the long-held federal right to abortion was eliminated, I launched an organization called the Gateway Coalition to direct funding to various Midwestern groups to provide accessible abortion care.

I have visited many abortion clinics, met with countless patients and the incredible doctors who serve them, but I was still deeply moved and shocked by what I saw in Tamarac.

A small but mighty and determined team works around the clock to provide care to as many patients as they can and refuses to turn away those they legally cannot.

Instead, they are helping patients whose pregnancies are longer than six weeks secure appointments and funds to drive the 11 hours to the nearest abortion clinic in North Carolina, or fly directly from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago or Washington, D.C.

Not only do they face anti-abortion laws. The clinic now has fire doors and increased security measures to keep extremists out, but cruel anti-abortion laws prevent women from entering.

Women deserve access to health care free from government interference and fear of harm. We deserve to live with dignity and determine our own future, not be diminished and degraded by arbitrary timelines and abortion bans.

The only way to guarantee that scenario in Florida is at the ballot box this November.

If passed, Amendment 4 would ban abortion restrictions in Florida before 24 weeks of gestation. Backed by the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, a bipartisan group, Amendment 4 would put the power of reproductive freedom back into the hands of women and their families, not extremist lawmakers.

Seventy percent of Florida voters – including Republicans, Democrats and independents alike – agree that women deserve access to abortion without government interference. This is true across the country.

Since the end of Roe v. Wade, Abortion is on the ballot in seven states. In all of them, voters, both Republican and Democrat, have sided with reproductive freedom.

Why? Because abortion is not a partisan issue. It’s a health issue. It’s an economic issue. It’s an issue that families like Sarah’s should be deciding for themselves, not state legislators who don’t understand their daily lives.

This November 5, Florida voters will have the power to guarantee abortion access statewide by voting “yes” on Amendment 4.

The health and safety of women and girls across Florida (and beyond) is at stake.

Together, we can put these important decisions back into the hands of Florida families and their doctors, not politicians.

Karlie Kloss is a former supermodel, abortion rights activist and philanthropist. She owns a home in Miami.