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DeSantis Dismisses Idea Women Could Be Legally Punished for Breaking Abortion Laws

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DeSantis Dismisses Idea Women Could Be Legally Punished for Breaking Abortion Laws
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis greets supporters in Chariton, Iowa, on July 27, 2023. Lawrence Wilson / The Epoch Times
Naveen Athrappully
By Naveen Athrappully
8/8/2023Updated: 8/8/2023
0:00

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has dismissed the idea that women could be legally punished for breaching abortion laws, while shying away from committing to a federal-level abortion ban.

In April, Mr. DeSantis signed into law a ban on abortion after six weeks. The law punishes any person who actively participates in the termination of pregnancy after this period.
In an Aug. 8 interview with NBC, Mr. DeSantis was asked whether women should be punished for violating an abortion ban.

“Not at all. No. I don’t think this is an issue about the woman. I think a lot of these women are in very difficult circumstances. They don’t get any support from a lot of the fathers,” he said.

“The number one reason why women choose to have an abortion is because they’re not getting support and they feel abandoned. In Florida, we’ve provided support and we put our money where our mouth is. But at the end of the day, I would not support any penalties on a woman.”

The Republican governor pointed out that he is “pro-life” and has “a record of promoting a culture of life in Florida.”

When asked whether the abortion issue should be dealt with on a state-by-state basis rather than by the federal government, Mr. DeSantis said: “I do think the federal government would have an interest in, say, preventing post-birth abortions or things that are really horrific. But I don’t think that there’s enough consensus in the country to see a lot of mileage in Congress.”

“If you want to protect life, it’s a bottom-up movement. So, let’s work with states that have done it, work in your local communities. But you also have to understand … what Iowa’s done is not what New Hampshire is going to do, and what Wisconsin will do is not what Texas is going to do.”

Mr. DeSantis’s lack of commitment to making abortion a federal-level restriction has attracted criticism from pro-life groups.

“The American people have expressed a clear consensus for protecting babies in the womb at least by the point they can feel pain at 15 weeks, while allowing states to enact stronger protections,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony (SBA) Pro-Life America, said in a July 31 statement.

“The pro-life movement and the American people deserve a president who will boldly advocate this consensus and will work to gather the votes necessary in Congress. Gov. DeSantis’s dismissal of this task is unacceptable to pro-life voters,” she said.

‘Infanticide’

Asked in the NBC interview whether he would veto any federal bill that attempts to put a nationwide ban on abortion, Mr. DeSantis replied, “We will be a pro-life president and we will support pro-life policies.”

“I would not allow what a lot of the left wants to do, which is to override pro-life protections throughout the country all the way up really until the moment of birth in some instances, which I think is infanticide.”

“I do think that the left in this country has moved on from a position that said ‘you know what, we do want to discourage abortion, it’s not something that’s a good thing’ to now viewing it more as a positive good for society.”

“Regardless of how they feel on legal protections, I don’t think most Americans think it’s a positive good for society. It’s obviously a tragic circumstance.”

Birth control pills in Centreville, Md., on July 6, 2022. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Birth control pills in Centreville, Md., on July 6, 2022. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved over-the-counter birth control, a policy that the Florida governor said he supports.

“In Florida, we provide about 100,000 people a year with access to contraception at no cost to them. I think it should be available over the counter and I think people should be able to have access to it,” he said.

The abortion bill signed by Mr. DeSantis in April, called the Heartbeat Protection Act, would charge individuals who participated in abortion with a third-degree felony. In case the pregnant woman dies during the abortion process that is in violation of the law, individuals involved in the procedure would face a second-degree felony charge.

GOP Candidates on 15-Week Abortions

Abortion is a crucial topic among Republicans ahead of the primaries. Only a few GOP presidential candidates have explicitly stated that they would institute a 15-week federal abortion ban.

While Mr. DeSantis, the second-placed Republican candidate in the primaries, has already made it clear that he is not committed to such a move, top candidate former President Donald Trump has also refrained from making such a commitment.

In an interview with Fox News last month, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that she would sign a 15-week abortion law if she becomes president and a bill on the issue reaches her desk.
Former Vice President Mike Pence supports a 15-week federal ban, saying in a June 24 interview with Fox News that, “I did this week call on every other candidate for the Republican nomination to support a minimum standard of a 15-week ban on abortion at the national level.”
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is not a fan of a 15-week federal ban. When asked about the matter in a podcast in late July, Mr. Ramaswamy replied that the “federal government should stay out” of the abortion issue.
Naveen Athrappully
Naveen Athrappully
Author
Naveen Athrappully is a news reporter covering business and world events at The Epoch Times.
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