Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis accused former President Donald Trump of not being “pro-life” during a CNN town hall.
In May, President Trump criticized a Florida law that restricts abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, calling it “too strict.” DeSantis signed the bill in April after previously signing legislation restricting abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Abortion has become a top issue for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections following the Supreme Court ruling turned over After upholding Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Authority, a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, Roe v. Wade was heard in June 2022. (Related: 'Overreach': Rep. Nancy Mace slams DeSantis over 'Heartbeat' bill)
“This person was a participant in the March for Life in January 2020 and believes that every life is a gift from God and that unborn children are created in God’s image and must be protected. That's what he said at the March for Life when he was president. Now he's saying this is terrible, terrible,” DeSantis said. “So how does he reconcile these two opinions? Did he flip out? Did he not believe it then?”
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“But he went further and said he was actually elevating this issue to the federal government,” DeSantis continued. “What he wants to do is find time. I think he's been floating for about 18 or 20 weeks. That's probably the limit. But then if the state has more protection than that, we'll revoke it. Well, that's not going to advance the cause of life. So for pro-life voters in Iowa, Donald Trump is the one he professed to believe in when he first ran for president in 2016. I think I'm taking a very different position than I was before.”
CNN host Kaitlan Collins, a former White House correspondent for the Daily Caller, asked if Mr. DeSantis was saying Mr. Trump was not pro-life.
“When you say pro-life protections are a terrible thing, by definition you are not pro-life.” If you want to enact it, that would mean more abortions, not fewer abortions, because very few abortions are done that late anyway,'' DeSantis told Collins. “So he flipped out on this issue. I don't know if it's because of political expediency or if this is what he always believed. But the problem is that some issues I mean, it's pretty fundamental. How do you overturn something like the sanctity of life?”
DeSantis defeated former Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, who served as Republican governor from 2007 to 2011, by more than 19 percentage points, although Republicans underperformed “red wave” expectations nationally.
“Ron DeSantis is like a whining baby, angry that his campaign is coming to an end. President Trump's unparalleled pro-life record speaks for itself,” the Trump campaign said. a spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “He appointed strong constitutionalist federal judges and Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, which others had tried to do for more than 50 years. He abolished taxpayer-funded abortions and He reinstated the pro-life Mexico City policy and took many other actions to protect unborn children. No one supports this movement more than President Trump. “He had the greatest impact on American history.”
“President Trump has given unprecedented negotiating power to movement leaders, and his actions are unparalleled. Through these unprecedented successes, President Trump has given Republican lawmakers unprecedented negotiating power and Despite their attempts to engineer abortion, we must learn to talk about this important issue in the right way and remind voters that it is Democrats, not Republicans, who take extreme positions on abortion. We have always advised: Do this,” the spokesperson said. “Joe Biden and virtually every Democrat in Congress are not only using American tax dollars to fund the murder of our most vulnerable people, but they are also using American tax dollars to fund the murder of our most vulnerable people, up until the moment of birth and even after birth. He is on record as supporting abortion on demand. That's why millions of pro-life Americans will vote to put President Trump back in the White House.”
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