WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — President Joe Biden has called Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban “dangerous.”
On Friday, March 5, the President of the United States, a self-professed devout Catholic, tweeted his opposition to the Sunshine State’s new legislation protecting unborn babies.
“Last night the Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed a dangerous bill that will severely restrict women’s access to reproductive health care,” Biden wrote.
“My Administration will not stand for the continued erosion of women’s constitutional rights.”
Last night, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed a dangerous bill that will severely restrict women’s access to reproductive health care. My Administration will not stand for the continued erosion of women’s constitutional rights.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 4, 2022
The president was upbraided on Twitter by Christina Pushaw, the press secretary for Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, who took a gradualist stance to the evil of abortion. She underscored that this legislation will protect babies who can feel pain and would soon be capable of surviving a premature birth.
“Why didn’t you mention that this bill is about protecting unborn babies AFTER 15 weeks?” she asked.
“That is when they can already feel pain and they’re getting close to viability. Babies have been born at 20 weeks and survived. What you’re arguing for is unfettered LATE TERM abortion.”
Why didn’t you mention that this bill is about protecting unborn babies AFTER 15 weeks? That is when they can already feel pain and they’re getting close to viability. Babies have been born at 20 weeks and survived. What you’re arguing for is unfettered LATE TERM abortion. https://t.co/yev52gRzsm
— Christina Pushaw 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) March 4, 2022
Governor DeSantis has vowed to sign the bill outlawing abortion after 15 weeks “in short order.”
The Republican-led Senate voted 23–15 in favor of the bill. The legislation anticipates a possible Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade later this year.
The bill includes exceptions in two cases: first, when the abortion is deemed necessary to save the mother’s life or “avert a serious risk” to her physical health, and second, when a baby is diagnosed with a “fatal fetal abnormality,” that will lead to his or her death upon birth or shortly afterwards.
The Republicans rejected an amendment to the bill which would extend the exceptional cases to include incest, rape, and human trafficking.
Bill sponsor Sen. Kelli Stargel defended the decision not to include rape and incest as exceptions to the legislation, stating that a child should not “be killed because of the circumstances in which it was conceived.”
The bill mirrors Arizona’s Senate Bill 1164 and West Virginia’s House Bill 4004, all three of which are modeled on the Mississippi Gestational Age Act banning abortions after 15 weeks. Arizona’s Senate and West Virginia’s House passed their legislation last month.