Pro-lifers attacking DeSantis on abortion are being ridiculous
Zachary Faria
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Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is fighting the noble battle to end abortions and protect unborn life, but its rigid demands of GOP presidential candidates are useless at best and incoherent at worst.
The group most recently lashed out at Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) after he said abortion policy is best left to the states. DeSantis himself has been resolute on this issue, ushering in first a ban in Florida on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and then a ban on abortion after six weeks. Still, the group declared his latest comments were “unacceptable” and that “people deserve a president who will boldly advocate.”
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Regardless of whether you think DeSantis is correct about abortion being a federal concern or a state concern, this purity test is pointless. DeSantis has made it clear that he is pro-life through his governance. When he said he would be a pro-life president and “will come down on the side of life,” there is no reason to doubt him.
But the attack on DeSantis is made more ridiculous by the group’s statement from when Sen. Tim Scott (SC) entered the race. The group’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said of Scott that “we are encouraged by his commitment to sign the strongest achievable protections for life should he be elected president.” Scott has indeed promised he will “literally sign the most conservative, pro-life legislation that they can get through Congress.”
In other words, the group is praising Scott despite the fact that his position would accomplish just as much as DeSantis’s because that would mean Scott would sign practically nothing.
You would need 60 votes to get any sort of abortion ban through the Senate, which Republicans haven’t had since 1911. In 2018, the Senate voted down a ban on abortion after 20 weeks. The GOP had a 51-seat majority, but two Republicans jumped ship, and only three Democrats backed the bill. Unless Republicans miraculously gain another 10 or more senators, no GOP president will be signing even a 20-week abortion ban, let alone a 15-week ban.
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Moreover, Republicans couldn’t even get a bill banning abortions after birth through the Senate. The Born-Alive Infant Child Protection Act would mandate that babies born alive after failed abortions be cared for and kept alive, yet Democrats wouldn’t even allow that to pass the Senate in 2020. So what exactly is the practical difference between DeSantis’s position and Scott’s?
DeSantis vowed that he would “be a leader with the bully pulpit to help local communities and states advance the cause of life.” That should be exactly what is expected from the pro-life movement because wasting political capital on ramming your head against the Democratic Senate caucus to pretend an unkeepable promise has been fulfilled helps no one — including the unborn children who we all agree must be protected.