(LifeSiteNews) — Ron DeSantis has criticized former president Donald Trump for calling Florida’s bill to prohibit abortions when a heartbeat is detected, usually at 6 weeks gestation, “harsh.”
CBN’s DavidBrody had asked the Florida governor if he thought Trump had gone “soft” on the issue of abortion.
“I mean, I was really surprised because he’s a Florida resident, and I thought he would compliment the fact that we were able to do the heartbeat bill, which pro-lifers have wanted for a long time,” DeSantis told Brody for an interview published on Friday. “He never complimented, never said anything about it. Then he was asked about it, and he said it was ‘harsh.’”
Florida’s “heartbeat law” provides no comparable restrictions to abortions of babies prior to their developing a beating heart.
The governor “credits his Catholic faith for keeping him grounded in truth.”
“Our household is a Christ-centered household,” DeSantis told Brody. “We’re raising our kids with those values. We think that that’s very important… It’s great for us when our kids are coming back from preschool or kindergarten, talking about David and Goliath, and we’re like, thank you. So we’re very, very appreciative of being able to do that… My son, he was four for Christmas this year, he wanted a sling to be like David slaying Goliath, and so that really warms our hearts when we see that.”
He also credited women religious at his grade school for helping him learn about discipline.
Asked about his experience at the Catholic grade school, Gov. DeSantis said, “By and large, I liked it, but again, I think the things that I didn’t like about it were because they were doing the right thing by making sure that we were disciplined.”
“You would pray every day, but some of the nuns were very strict about what your obligations were,” he said. “And again, as a young kid, maybe not the most fun at the time, but I think [that] was the right approach.”
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DeSantis would go on to play baseball in college, graduate from Harvard Law School, and serve in the Navy, including in Iraq.
“I always believed that it doesn’t matter where you start,” DeSantis said. “If you put that nose to the grindstone and work hard, God has a plan for you, and you can do well in this country.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis hits President Trump for opposing protections for preborn babies.
Full interview here — https://t.co/Xic60nFbS5 pic.twitter.com/XHgyXm3Tqv
— Matt Lamb (@MattLamb22) June 19, 2023
His faith helped the governor get through his wife Casey DeSantis’ battle with breast cancer and the death of his sister in 2015.
A favorite Bible verse of DeSantis is John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Looking at the road ahead to turn America in the right direction, DeSantis said a “strong faith” would be needed to “get us through very turbulent times.”
“Look, at the end of the day, there’s certain problems, economic problems, there’s problems at the border, they are all very important, but why are we here?” he said.
“Why are we free people? We’re free because God has endowed us with inalienable rights. That’s why America was founded,” DeSantis said. “Our Constitution was created, not to give us rights, but to protect the rights that God has already bestowed upon us.”
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