On Tuesday, students experienced a sound cannon outside the Student Union.
Nicole Elinoff, president of NOW, projected her voice through a megaphone saying, “Protect privacy, protect women, vote no on Amendment 6”.
Group members of NOW UCF, VOX and SLAP broke off into separate groups forming a circle around Elinoff while creating a wave of voices shouting in unison the same message.
“We’re advocating for students to vote no on Amendment 6 because it would be very harmful for women, families, and a lot students don’t know what’s going on in their ballots, because a lot of the amendments are worded so sneakily, and we want to educate as many people as we can,” Elinoff said. She is also part of the Feminist Majority Foundation that helped coordinate Vote No On Amendment 6 efforts.
Amendment 6 is on the ballot this year and claims to address so-called taxpayer funding for abortions, despite the 1976 Hyde Amendment which limits funding to cases of rape, incest or life endangerment.
It also claims to restore parental rights, however Florida law already requires a parent to be notified 48 hours before performing the procedure on a minor. Former Governor Jeb Bush signed the law known as the Parental Notification law, SB 1908, in May 2005.
“I got a flyer earlier, and had no idea what Amendment 6 was, except what I learned in government, and I will definitely vote no on it because it’s not okay for government to control what women can and cannot do, especially with their own bodies,” said Alexis Plater, psychology major, regarding the sound cannon and the amendment.
The amendment would essentially allow politicians to decide what can, and cannot be covered by someone’s health plan.
