Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took the opportunity to lash out at former President Donald Trump after his opinion on abortion, a key issue for the 2024 elections.
DeSantis lashed out at the former president who suggested Florida’s new six-week abortion ban was “too harsh.”
When questioned about this comment, the Floridian said the legislation he signed is something that “probably 99% of pro-lifers support.”
The governor of the sunshine state indicated that Trump had evaded whether he would support that bill, CNBC reported.
“As a Florida resident, you know, he didn’t give an answer about, ‘Would I have signed the heartbeat bill that Florida made, which had all the exceptions that people talk about?’” he said.
“The Legislature introduced it, I signed the bill, I was proud to do it,” DeSantis said, adding: “He won’t answer whether or not he would sign it.”
The Republican mogul was a leading mover in the 2022 deathblow to federal abortion rights, as he named three of the conservative Supreme Court justices who voted to strike down Roe v. Wade.
The decision fulfilled Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to put abortion regulations back in the hands of the nation’s states.
In an interview with The Messenger, Trump declined to elaborate on his stance on abortion, instead claiming to have heard that pro-life voters were opposed to DeSantis’ bill, Fox News reported.
“He has to do what he has to do,” Trump said when asked about Florida’s abortion rules. “If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don’t even know if he knew what he was doing. But he signed on for six weeks, and a lot of people within the pro-life movement feel that was too harsh.”
Also, when asked if he would support abortions after six weeks, the former president replied: “I’m looking at all the options.”
Trump confirmed in the interview that he supports exceptions in abortion legislation for “the life of the mother, rape and incest.”
“Just as Ronald Reagan believed in exceptions, I believe in exceptions,” he added.
The Florida governor’s bill bans the vast majority of pregnancy terminations after six weeks, but includes exceptions for rape or incest. In addition, the exceptions for the life of the mother remain in effect.
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