| [Courtesy of El Nuevo Herald]
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| Republicans’ telling political calculation on abortion
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| Democrats seem convinced that abortion is a winning political issue in 2024. You can tell by the way they’re acting. President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign keeps cutting ads about it. The Florida Democratic Party keeps bringing up the state’s impending six-week ban.
But perhaps more telling than the way Democrats are acting? The way Republicans are acting.
In a radio appearance on Friday, Sen. Rick Scott, who’s up for reelection this year, was asked whether he supported Florida’s six-week ban. Previously, Scott posted on X that he would have signed the six-week bill. But on Friday, he responded that there needs to be “reasonable limitations” on abortion. He hammered Democrats for advocating for policies that he said would result in the deaths of babies after they are viable. And he said the state needs to have a conversation about abortion.
At an appearance in Tampa Monday, I asked him whether the six-week bill that goes into effect May 1 counts as a reasonable restriction.
In response, Scott reiterated the need for “reasonable restrictions” around abortion. He hammered Democrats for being “radical” on the issue. And he said there needs to be a state dialogue.
“I think we ought to have a conversation about how do we work to make sure this is the state where we respect women and also we take care of our babies,” Scott said.
In other words, Scott gave the same nonanswer he gave last week.
Also on Monday, former president Donald Trump, Biden’s reelection opponent, put out a statement on abortion. It was Trump who appointed three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who struck down federal abortion protections in 2022. But Trump didn’t explicitly back any abortion ban at all in his statement, instead noting that the abortion issue had been left up to the states to decide.
“At the end of the day it’s all about will of the people,” Trump said. “That’s where we are right now, and that’s what we want. The will of the people.”
The silence of Scott and Trump — Florida’s most famous resident — on the state’s impending abortion ban may be telling. Particularly when contrasted with the viewpoint of some in the Republican Party on abortion.
Mike Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president, wrote a post on X Monday criticizing those in his party who run away from abortion.
“Today, too many Republican politicians are all too ready to wash their hands of the battle for life,” Pence said. “Republicans win on life when we speak the truth boldly and stand on the principle that we all know to be true — human life begins at conception and should be defended from womb to tomb.”
In Pence’s mind, being anti-abortion is good politics. So far, it’s not clear that Trump and Scott agree.
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| — Kirby Wilson, politics reporter
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| Contact Kirby Wilson at [email protected].
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