Global Courant 2023-04-14 08:31:50
Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed legislation Thursday that would ban most abortions after six weeks in Florida, a move that will weigh on his likely 2024 presidential bid.
DeSantis said last month that he would sign the measure led by the GOP-dominated legislature, even though most public polls show that a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy is unpopular with both political parties.
Florida law bans abortions after six weeks, but creates new exemptions for rape and incest up to 15 weeks gestation. It does not change existing exemptions for the life and health of the mother up to 15 weeks.
DeSantis signed the measure into law just hours after the legislature passed it Thursday afternoon. But he did not publicly announce that he did until after 11 p.m
“We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” the governor said in a statement. “I applaud the legislature for passing the Heartbeat Protection Act that expands pro-life protections and provides additional resources for young mothers and families.”
The lack of fanfare surrounding the legislation underscores how tricky abortion politics are for Republicans after the 2022 midterm elections — when Democrats hammered the GOP nationally on the issue — and specifically for DeSantis as he weighs in on the GOP nomination for president.
The latest poll on the University of North Florida proposal end of February found that 75% of state residents were somewhat or strongly opposed to the six-week ban, including 61% of Republicans.
It’s the latest move by Republicans to cut access to abortion in Florida. Last year, DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban passed by the GOP-controlled legislature currently before the Florida Supreme Court. The six-week suspension will be suspended until the court decides on that proposal.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that there was no constitutional right to abortion, Florida has become a place where people throughout the Southeast come for abortions, while other states in the region have banned it.
According to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, the number of women seeking abortions in Florida from other states has increased from 3,988 in 2020 to 6,708 in 2022.
The abortion fight will undoubtedly take center stage as Republican presidential candidates attempt to wade through the issue’s murky political waters. Being anti-abortion is a must for any candidate trying to win a Republican presidential primary, but being seen as going too far can be toxic in a general election.
Florida’s proposed six-week ban quickly caught the attention of the White House, a clear signal that President Joe Biden sees it as useful political grist to DeSantis, with whom he has been publicly feuding for months.
“The president and vice president believe that women should be able to make health care decisions with their doctors and families — free from political interference,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement when the bill was passed. was submitted in March. “They are committed to protecting access to reproductive care and continue to call on Congress to reinstate the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law.”
Only two of the 28 Republicans in the Florida Senate voted against. Both “no” votes were from freshman lawmakers flipping the legislative rocking chairs Biden wore in 2020.
“I do not support this bill today, but I believe it will pass and become the law of this state,” said Republican state senator Alexis Calatyud, whose Miami-based Biden won with 54% of the vote in 2020. “And I believe it will go a long way in helping to change the hearts and minds impacted by a decade of anti-life culture.”
Former President Donald Trump’s supporters see some potential in trying to hang what they see as an unpopular bill around the neck of DeSantis, who is not expected to announce his candidacy until May or June if he runs for office.
“Ron DeSantis has tried to create an image of never backing down,” said a former Trump adviser, referring to the name of a pro-DeSantis super PAC called “Never Back Down,” which has so far been reported to have $30 million fetched. “Well, he’s definitely pregnant on this bill, and it’s been over six weeks — so maybe, ironically, he’ll live with the consequences of his actions, too.”
Trump has been largely silent on the issue of abortion since announcing that he is running for president again. Shortly after a midterm election cycle in which several of his hand-picked U.S. Senate candidates were defeated in key races, Trump blamed them for mishandling the “abortion issue.”
“It was not my fault that Republicans fell short of expectations in the MidTerms,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in early January. “It was the ‘abortion issue’, mishandled by many Republicans, especially those who resolutely insisted on no exceptions even in the case of rape, incest or the mother’s life, that lost large numbers of voters.”
Since then, however, Trump has avoided the issue, even after a series of sweeping abortion restrictions in his four years in the White House, including a ban on referring patients from federal family planning programs for abortions. That was part of his stated effort to “defund” Planned Parenthood.
So far this year, however, he’s brushed off questions about the issue from reporters and generally tried to focus on other issues popular with Republican primary voters.
Other 2024 GOP contenders have taken different approaches to navigating questions about their abortion positions.
Former Trump Vice President Mike Pence, who is likely to run for office in 2024, is one of the party’s most staunch anti-abortion politicians. He supports a federal ban on abortion.
Trump administration UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who announced her candidacy in February, said on NBC’s “TODAY” show that she doesn’t “full federal banbut would support a 15-week federal abortion ban.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, who this week announced an exploratory commission for 2024, has ignored questions about his stance on a federal abortion ban; he co-sponsored anti-abortion legislation in the Senate, including a proposed 20-week ban sponsored by fellow South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham.
