White House denounces Florida abortion ban as ‘extreme and dangerous’
Haisten Willis
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The White House denounced Florida’s six-week abortion ban in a sharply worded statement, calling it “extreme and dangerous.”
Florida’s state legislature passed the ban Thursday afternoon, with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) expected to sign it. That drew a sharp rebuke from the Biden administration.
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“Today, Florida’s Republican supermajority-controlled legislature sent an extreme and dangerous new abortion ban to Governor DeSantis’s desk for signature,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “The ban flies in the face of fundamental freedoms and is out of step with the views of the vast majority of the people of Florida and of all the United States.”
The state already has a 15-week ban that DeSantis signed into law last year, with the six-week ban set to replace it should DeSantis sign it into law. The bill has presidential implications, as DeSantis is considered a top contender for the 2024 GOP nomination.
“This ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant,” Jean-Pierre said. “This ban would also impact the nearly 15 million women of reproductive age who live in abortion-banning states throughout the South, many of whom have previously relied on travel to Florida as an option to access care.”
The new bill contains exceptions to save the woman’s life and would allow for pregnancies involving rape or incest until 15 weeks.
The ban is one of many in conservative-led states that have followed in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. But Democrats have also campaigned fiercely over abortion access.
“At every opportunity following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, from the Kansas ballot initiative in August to five abortion ballot initiatives in November to last week’s elections in Wisconsin, the message has been clear: Americans demand the freedom to make their own decisions about their own bodies without government interference,” Jean-Pierre said.
Florida House Democrats filed more than 50 amendments to the bill, but House Speaker Paul Renner, a Republican, said none will be added to the bill to push it forward to DeSantis’s desk.
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The White House’s statement accuses Republicans of “dismantling our fundamental freedoms.”
“President Biden and his administration stand with women and physicians — and we will continue to fight to protect access to abortion and defend reproductive rights,” Jean-Pierre said.