Just two weeks after the Florida Supreme Court upheld a 15-week abortion ban and cleared the way for a six-week one to take effect, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is publicly attempting to soften his stance on abortion.
Even before the Florida Supreme Court ruling earlier this month, which focused on the six-week ban, but also allowed abortion and marijuana citizen initiatives to appear on the ballot in November, Democrats have painted Florida as their best bet, albeit by a long shot, for Senate pickup in 2024. With a new six-week ban fresh on voters minds as they head to the polls, Democrats are increasingly hopeful that the ballot initiative will juice turnout and help make Florida winnable for Democrats again after Donald Trump won the state by 3.4 percent in 2020.
After the Florida rulings and a poorly-timed (for Trump) Arizona ruling — which put a near-total abortion ban from the 19th century back on the books in the state — Trump bluntly told reporters that he would not sign a national ban into law if he wins the election. That’s just days after he made a big, long anticipated, non-announcement on his abortion positioning: that the issue is best left to the states.
Now Scott is clearly feeling some heat as he campaigns for reelection in the fall. The Florida senator told The Hill in an interview published Monday that he would support replacing Florida’s six-week ban with a 15-week ban, which is quite a walk back for the “pro-life” Republican who, at the time of its passage, said he would’ve signed the six-week ban into law if he were governor, too.
“So if I was writing a bill, I’d think that 15 weeks with the limitations is where the state’s at,” he told The Hill. “I think it’s important we do what there’s consensus (for).”
“If I was writing a bill, I think 15 weeks is where the state is,” he continued. He also pulled out the old, tired, baseless accusation that Democrats want to “allow abortion up until the moment of birth” in defense of his softening stance.
“I’ve been pro-life, and I think we need to continue to the importance of being pro-life and I think the other thing is we ought to be very clear that Democrats are barbaric. They want — they’ve already voted to allow abortion up until the moment of birth,” he said.
The Best Of TPM Today
TPM’s Josh Kovensky was in attendance as Trump’s criminal trial kicked off in Manhattan today. Read his coverage:
Trump Becomes Just Another New York Criminal Defendant During First Day In Court
Trump’s First Day Ends In Another Attempt To Get Out Of It
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Call It What It is — Josh Marshall
What We Are Reading
The Supreme Court Can No Longer Sidestep Considering January 6 and the Attempts to Subvert the 2020 Election — Election Law Blog
A Weary Trump Appears to Doze Off in Courtroom Ahead of Criminal Trial — NYT
George Santos Explains Why He’s Raised $0 for Return Congressional Bid — Daily Beast