Opinion | Why Ron DeSantis is avoiding talking about abortion – By Zeeshan Aleem (MSNBC) / July 6, 2022
The Florida governor has 2024 calculations in mind — and fear of a backlash.
Republicans across the country are rushing to craft new state laws restricting or banning abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. But one of the most prominent members of their party has been conspicuously missing in action: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
After the June 24 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization invalidated the constitutional right to abortion access, DeSantis pledged in a statement to “expand pro-life protections.” But he hasn’t specified how or when. The simplest explanation for his reticence is that tricky strategic dilemmas are leading him to drag his feet and remain quiet on the issue for now. DeSantis is a leading 2024 presidential hopeful, and his hesitation reflects Republican fears of an outsize Democratic backlash and underscores how the right doesn’t have a unified vision of how far to take its anti-abortion crusade..
As the Tallahassee Democrat reports, DeSantis appears reluctant to talk about what kind of anti-abortion laws he wants to see. He hasn’t spoken about the issue publicly, and he hasn’t taken questions from reporters at recent events. Asked whether DeSantis still supports so-called fetal heartbeat legislation, which would outlaw abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy — which he backed while running for governor in 2018 — his spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, declined to respond affirmatively or negatively. According to the newspaper, she said, “We very much look forward to pursuing additional legislative protections for the unborn.” And while the anti-abortion advocacy group Florida Voice for the Unborn and at least one Republican state representative have called for DeSantis to call a special legislative session for a new anti-abortion law, so far he has refused.
