President Biden traveled to Florida on Tuesday, August 2023, to spotlight an abortion-rights referendum that will appear on the November ballot. Flanked by supporters, Biden launched an attack on former President Trump and the GOP, accusing them of relentlessly pushing for stricter abortion restrictions and bans since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision. “One person is responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump,” Biden declared. “We are going to hold him accountable.” Biden criticized Trump’s stance that the bans enacted by states like Florida represent “state’s rights.” “This isn’t about state’s rights. It’s about women’s rights,” Biden asserted, as the crowd erupted into chants of “four more years.” He issued a resounding warning: “Don’t mess with the women of America.” The speech in Tampa marked a significant escalation in the abortion wars. Florida’s new law, prohibiting abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, goes into effect on May 1. However, voters will have the opportunity to overturn the ban through a constitutional amendment that will be voted on in the November general election. Another pivotal battleground is Arizona, where the right-wing state supreme court has reinstated a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion ban. Democrats are optimistic that voter outrage over the Republican-backed restrictions will propel them to victories across the board, similar to the backlash witnessed after the Supreme Court’s unpopular 2022 decision. Organizers of the Florida abortion ballot measure, requiring 60% approval to pass, claim to have gathered nearly 1.5 million signatures to place the issue before voters. Notably, about 35% of those signatures came from registered Republicans or unaffiliated voters, highlighting the political risks for the GOP. During his campaign against Governor Ron DeSantis, the architect of the six-week ban, Trump labeled it “terrible.” Yet, he has remained evasive when asked whether he will support or oppose the ballot measure when he casts his vote in Florida. It’s worth noting that abortion-rights advocates have consistently prevailed when the issue has been put to a vote, including in solidly conservative states like Kansas, Kentucky, and Ohio. The issue has gained even greater prominence among voters as conservatives advocate for measures that could outlaw certain forms of contraception, medication abortion, and in-vitro fertilization. In Arizona, the Civil War-era bill has sparked deep divisions within the Republican party, with some lawmakers and even Trump expressing concerns that it goes too far. Nonetheless, efforts to repeal the ban have been unsuccessful thus far. Abortion rights supporters in Arizona are also planning a ballot measure, giving Democrats a potent tool to mobilize their base in a state crucial to Trump’s bid to defeat Biden in the next presidential election.
Biden Targets Trump, GOP in Abortion Fight, Backs Florida Referendum
