Press Release
By Florida Voice for the Unborn
9/25/25
Executive Director Andrew Shirvell today issued the following statement:
“Florida Voice for the Unborn is unsurprised that the Republican-majority Jacksonville City
Council passed, in the early morning hours, the annual city budget without an imprudent
amendment from Councilman Rory Diamond (R – District 13) that Diamond misleadingly
claimed would ‘prohibit’ Jacksonville taxpayers from funding abortion and abortion-related
services.”
Shirvell continued, “Most Florida citizens, I believe, are in agreement that taxpayers should not be footing the bill for another person’s decision to murder an innocent unborn child. But as I testified before the Jacksonville City Council during the general public comment period yesterday afternoon, Florida state law already prohibits a local government entity, like Jacksonville, from expending public funds to support abortion, pursuant to Florida Statute 390.0111(15). Moreover, an important provision of Florida’s new Heartbeat Protection Law, which took full effect on May 1, 2024, explicitly prohibits local governments from paying for ‘a person to travel to another state to receive services that are intended to support an abortion.’”
Shirvell further remarked, “Councilman Rory Diamond’s proposed budget amendment was
clearly symbolic, as even Diamond, a lawyer, acknowledged back in August. It would not have done a thing to protect the city’s taxpayers – or unborn children in Jacksonville, who are still being killed through abortion at a high rate.”
Shirvell added, “I continue to question the intent of Councilman Rory Diamond’s symbolic
proposal. It was imprudent to propose such an amendment, without first securing the votes
necessary to make sure the final budget could be passed with it.”
Shirvell concluded, “Although Rory Diamond was a year ahead of me, we both attended the
University of Michigan (U of M) in Ann Arbor together more than two decades ago. In fact, while I was serving as president of the campus Students for Life chapter, Diamond was the president of the U of M College Republicans and was adamantly pro-abortion. I have followed Diamond’s subsequent political career for many years, and he seems to me to be the epitome of a chameleon. I do not believe Diamond is actually ‘pro-life’ in any way, shape, or form. Diamond’s well-known homosexual lifestyle and his controversial tenure as the well-paid CEO of the Florida-based K9s for Warriors charity, which public commenters and even his fellow council members have repeatedly brought-up at council meeting after council meeting, demonstrate that the messenger matters. Diamond has shown himself to be a bad actor and has hurt the overall pro-life cause here in Florida with his latest ill-conceived publicity stunt, which backfired spectacularly – as usual.”
Florida Voice for the Unborn is a Tallahassee-based grassroots lobbying group that only focuses on pro-life issues impacting the unborn. It is strictly independent, and its work is guided by faith in God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. Florida Voice for the Unborn supports all peaceful efforts by elected officials and others to end abortion and save lives. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Truth Social, and YouTube @UnbornVoiceFL – and visit our website at FloridaVoiceForTheUnborn.com.
Andrew Shirvell, Founder and Executive Director, at (850) 404-3414 or
[email protected].
