Listen below: WUFT-FM's Dana Hill spoke with reporter Gabriel Velasquez Neira about the third day of the Democratic National Convention.
As an abortion provider, Joan Waitkevicz, of West Palm Beach, said she only sees a select group of women who make it into the Florida clinic where she works.
Protesters frequently engage with patients before they can get inside and an abortion ban prevents women from receiving one after six weeks into their pregnancy.
But an amendment change vote in November could change that.
A question on the general election ballot will ask voters whether they want to reverse the six-week abortion ban that took effect in May, permitting abortions until fetal viability — typically 24 weeks into a pregnancy. The change to Amendment 4, which requires a supermajority vote to pass, would also allow abortions to protect a woman's health if needed.
Several states are proposing abortion rights amendment changes to voters. But Waitkevicz, 78, who used to escort patients into the clinic, said Florida imposes particularly limiting measures, including requiring abortion-seekers to consult with a physician a day in advance of their appointment.
“When I became an escort, I felt that for the first time since I moved to Florida, I was doing God's work,” she said. “I felt that I was face to face with evil and helping people through evil-doers who meant them no good.”
Waitkevicz is a volunteer at this year’s Democratic National Convention. On Wednesday, she attended a Florida delegate gathering wearing a shirt with a uterus graphic that read “Literally No One Asked You.”
Other Democrats also dressed up for the third day of the convention. Prominent leaders like Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried wore pink in support of the amendment.
“If they can take away this access to healthcare for families — for women — what else is next?” Fried said in an interview earlier this week. “It's everything from marriage equality to the civil rights act, and so this issue is not only something that women and our families are very important for us, but it's also what is next.”
The amendment change was added to the ballot in January. Floridians Protecting Freedom, a group advocating for abortion rights, sponsored the proposed question.
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando, said abortion rights are a non-partisan issue and that he expects the amendment change to pass.
“There will be people who vote for Donald Trump in Florida and also vote yes on Amendment 4,” he said. “The issue we have to deal with as Florida Democrats is there's a disconnect between the policy and the politics.”
Waitkevicz said she has to believe voters will pass the amendment change but, if not, she said people should vote for new state leaders, or “throw the bums out,” to prioritize abortion rights in Florida.
“The only other way would be through the legislature,” she said, “and it could happen next year if we overthrow the people who are instrumental in the abortion ban.”
WUFT-TV's Charlize Ramos also produced this report: