DeSantis: ‘Court has answered prayers of millions upon millions of Americans’

MIAMI, Fla. – There will be a ripple effect across the nation after Friday’s Supreme Court 5-4 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion and ended 50 years of federal abortion rights.

Florida, however, is one of the states where women already faced the curtailing of reproductive rights before the landmark decision.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law on April 14 HB 5, the Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality Act, which prohibits all abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. Previously it was 24 weeks. There are no exceptions in HB 5 for rape, incest, or human trafficking.

(See the complete HB 5 bill here.)

“HB 5 prohibits an abortion after an unborn child has reached 15 weeks of gestation. While other states such as California and Colorado are taking extreme measures against the right to life by passing legislation which denies babies in the womb any rights or protections and provides for unrestricted abortions on demand until point of birth, Florida continues to move in a pro-life direction.”

The new law goes into effect on July 1.

Gallup polls have found broad public support consensus on the exemption of rape and incest.

In one poll, the question posed was: “Two important areas of consensus that have typically been respected in U.S. abortion laws. One involves protecting abortion rights when pregnancy endangers a woman’s life. The other is keeping abortion legal when pregnancy is caused by rape or incest.” See the poll opinion here.

Florida’s law is the most restrictive abortion law in the state’s history and was modeled after Mississippi’s law which was at the heart of Friday’s Supreme Court ruling.

The question now is whether state lawmakers will seek even more limits to abortion access following Friday’s decision.

On his Twitter feed on Friday, DeSantis applauded the Supreme Court saying that it “has answered the prayers of millions upon millions of Americans.”

Local 10 News reached out to the Governor about Friday’s decision. We were referred to his Twitter posting and told he would not have further comments at this time.