DeSantis’s rivals seize on governor’s abortion stance: ‘Retreating on life’
Mabinty Quarshie
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Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R-FL) 2024 rivals are piling on after a high-profile anti-abortion group slammed his refusal to endorse a federal abortion ban during an interview with Megyn Kelly last week.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which supports a federal ban, attacked DeSantis in a statement Monday night as his campaign undergoes a messaging and strategy reset. “Gov. DeSantis’s dismissal of this task is unacceptable to pro-life voters. A consensus is already formed. Intensity for it is palpable and measurable,” the group’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, said in a statement.
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“There are many pressing legislative issues for which Congress does not have the votes at the moment, but that is not a reason for a strong leader to back away from the fight. This is where presidential leadership matters most,” she added.
DeSantis’s rivals in the presidential race didn’t miss their moment to contrast themselves with the governor.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) began with an implicit critique of DeSantis. “Republicans should not be retreating on life. We need a national 15-week limit to stop blue states from pushing abortion on demand,” Scott wrote. “@sbaprolife defends the most fundamental right: life. Without life, nothing else matters. It’s not a special interest. It’s the only interest.”
https://twitter.com/votetimscott/status/1686144856484089856
As DeSantis struggles in his bid to challenge former President Donald Trump‘s front-runner status in the 2024 primary race, Scott, who is polling third behind DeSantis in Iowa and New Hampshire, has gotten a second look.
In July, the Scott campaign and his allied super PAC, Trust in the Mission, spent more than $3 million on television and digital advertising, the most of any campaign. Trust in the Mission has also reserved $40 million for ad buys that will run from September through January and has $7 million reserved for ad buys through Labor Day.
Not to be outdone, former Vice President Mike Pence, who has made his anti-abortion stance a key component of his campaign, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to attack DeSantis. “When I am President, #ProLife Americans will have a champion in the White House! In the Dobbs decision, the question of abortion was returned to the states AND the American people,” he wrote before linking to SBA’s statement on DeSantis. “I will always champion protections for the unborn in states across the Country and in our Nation’s Capital!”
https://twitter.com/Mike_Pence/status/1686155061628428289
Pence challenged all of his 2024 rivals to endorse a 15-week minimum federal abortion ban when he spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference in June.
The Republican debate over abortion has posed another difficulty for DeSantis as his campaign fields negative press over his declining poll numbers and staffing shake-ups.
DeSantis signed into law a six-week abortion ban in Florida this year that is currently being litigated in court. On the same day that SBA Pro-Life America released its statement on DeSantis, the governor sat down with Fox News‘s Bret Baier for an interview in New Hampshire, where he once again elaborated on his abortion stance. Baier asked DeSantis if he was trying to get the right of Trump by endorsing a six-week ban rather than a 15-week ban.
“I am pro-life. I’ve always been pro-life. I ran as being pro-life. I’ve always said I supported the heartbeat bill,” DeSantis responded. Yet he conceded in other parts of the country, his bill may not be as accepted as it was in the Sunshine State. “Now, I also acknowledge and understand that my region of the country and down in the southeast, it’s a little bit different than where we are up here in New England,” he said.
DeSantis also expressed support for Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who is protesting the Pentagon’s abortion policy by blocking military promotions. For months, the Alabama senator has held up promotions in an effort to pressure the Pentagon to stop paying the travel expenses of military members who seek abortions.
“I think the Pentagon is violating the law. They’re basically being told by the Biden administration to do this,” DeSantis said.
“This is not consistent with long-standing U.S. law. And I think it plays into a larger problem that we’ve seen in the military. You have a lot of civilians, forcing them to engage in political and culture issues that are detracting from the mission,” he continued.
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Trump has also danced around whether he would support a federal abortion ban. But he, like his former running mate Pence, has also taken credit for striking down Roe v. Wade by appointing the three Supreme Court justices who transformed the high court into a conservative 6-3 majority.
“After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone, and for the first time put the Pro Life movement in a strong negotiating position over the Radicals that are willing to kill babies even into their 9th month, and beyond,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in May. “Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”