Vice President Kamala Harris sought to blame Republican candidate Donald Trump for Florida’s six-week abortion ban that took effect on Wednesday, saying his Supreme Court picks when he was president cleared the way for the policy.
Quick Read
- Vice President’s Remarks: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris attributed Florida’s new six-week abortion ban to former President Donald Trump, blaming his Supreme Court appointees for enabling such restrictive policies.
- Political Context: Harris’s comments came during a speech in Jacksonville, Florida, aiming to highlight abortion rights as a key issue for the Biden-Harris reelection campaign, emphasizing its potential to mobilize voters.
- Florida’s Legal Changes: Florida’s Supreme Court recently allowed the six-week abortion ban to proceed, significantly limiting reproductive freedoms. Concurrently, the court approved a ballot measure for November that could legalize abortion until viability, potentially rallying Democrat voters.
- Strategic Electoral Comments: President Joe Biden remarked on the potential for Democrats to gain ground in Florida—a historically Republican state in recent presidential elections—indicating a strategic focus for the campaign.
- Supreme Court’s Role: The conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade in 2022 has led to individual states, like Florida, enacting their own restrictive abortion laws, following Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to appoint justices who would overturn Roe.
- Public Reaction and Democratic Strategy: The Democratic Party believes that severe abortion restrictions in states like Florida and Arizona will ultimately benefit them, citing widespread public opposition to strict abortion laws.
- State-Specific Developments: In Arizona, the state’s House recently moved to repeal a century-old abortion law, reflecting ongoing legislative battles over reproductive rights in various states.
- Southern U.S. Abortion Access: Florida, previously a refuge for individuals seeking abortions from more restrictive neighboring states, has seen significant changes affecting out-of-state abortion seekers and the operational viability of its clinics.
- Trump’s Position: Despite his role in shaping the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, Trump has expressed that abortion regulation should remain a state matter and has avoided endorsing a federal ban, even as his past comments have suggested more extreme positions.
- Biden’s Commitment: President Biden has committed to opposing state-level anti-abortion measures and has criticized Trump’s stance on punishing women who seek abortions, framing it as part of an “extreme and out-of-touch” agenda in campaign efforts in key battleground states.
The Associated Press has the story:
Harris from Florida: ‘Today another Trump abortion ban went into effect here’
Newslooks- JACKSONVILLE, Florida, (AP)
Vice President Kamala Harris sought to blame Republican candidate Donald Trump for Florida’s six-week abortion ban that took effect on Wednesday, saying his Supreme Court picks when he was president cleared the way for the policy.
The remarks in Jacksonville, Florida, were the latest effort by Harris and President Joe Biden to keep their re-election focus on abortion rights, an issue Democrats are hoping will galvanize voters to pick them.
“Today, this very day, at the stroke of midnight, another Trump abortion ban went into effect here in Florida. As of this morning 4 million women in this state woke up with fewer reproductive freedoms than they did last night. This is the new reality under a Trump abortion ban,” Harris said.
Florida’s top court this month cleared the way for a six-week abortion ban, a time-frame before many women realize they are pregnant. It also said a ballot measure legalizing abortion until viability could be voted on this November, which could benefit Democrats in an election where abortion is a top issue nationwide.
Biden declared “Florida is in play nationally” when he visited last week, indicating Democrats could try to flip the state, which voted Republican in recent presidential elections.
The conservative U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade in 2022 opened the door for Florida and other states to set their own abortion laws. Trump campaigned in 2016 on adding judges who would overturn Roe and appointed three who did.00:13In Israel, Blinken urges for sustained aid into Gaza.
Harris has pushed for reproductive freedoms in more than 20 states and made a historic trip to an abortion clinic in March.
Democrats believe harsh restrictions such as those in Florida and Arizona, which earlier this month upheld a 160-year-old abortion ban, will benefit Biden given that U.S. voters overwhelmingly reject strict abortion bans.
“We believe the government should never come between her and her doctor. Never,” Harris said.
Arizona’s Republican-controlled House approved a repeal of an 1864 abortion law, with the state Senate poised to vote on it on Wednesday.
FEW OPTIONS FOR WOMEN IN U.S. SOUTH
Abortion access is now almost non-existent in southern U.S. states. Florida had been a refuge for abortion-seekers from states such as Alabama and Georgia until April’s ban passed.
In 2023, about 7,700 of some 84,000 abortions performed in Florida were for out-of-state residents, nearly 60% higher than two years earlier, state data show. About half of the state’s 50 clinics operate independently from larger groups such as Planned Parenthood. Several told Reuters they do not know how long they can remain open.
Trump has distanced himself from Arizona’s ruling even as he took credit for appointing the three U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and made state restrictions possible, saying it should remain a state issue and declining to support a federal ban.
He previously said women who get abortions should be punished and, in an interview published on Tuesday, said he would allow Republican-led states to track women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate their state bans.
“The states are going to make those decisions,” he told TIME magazine.
Biden has vowed to fight states’ anti-abortion measures. He slammed Trump’s latest comments that “once again endorsed punishing women for getting the care they need” as his campaign unveiled billboards denouncing Trump’s “extreme and out of touch anti-freedom agenda” in Michigan and Wisconsin where Trump will be campaigning later on Wednesday.
Florida, with a hefty 30 Electoral College votes, in recent years has shifted from a battleground state to a Republican stronghold that Trump won in 2020 with 51.2% of the vote compared with Biden’s 47.9%.
Some Biden aides think his and the party’s optimism it could win the state could be misplaced. Opinion polls compiled by election data website FiveThirtyEight show Trump with a substantial lead.
