(Jacksonville) “It was Trump who did this”: determined to fully exploit this angle of political attack against the former Republican president, American Vice-President Kamala Harris went to campaign in Florida on Wednesday, where Abortion is now prohibited beyond six weeks.
“We have seen a full-blown attack, state after state, on reproductive freedoms and we know who is responsible. It was former President Trump who did this,” said the Democrat, President Joe Biden’s running mate for the November election, from Jacksonville.
Since Wednesday, the southeastern state, the third most populous in America, has banned voluntary terminations of pregnancies after six weeks. At this stage, “many women don’t even know they are pregnant,” said the vice-president, the first woman and first African-American and Asian-American person in this position.
Joe Biden spoke in a press release of a “nightmare” for which he blames Donald Trump.
Democrats are trying to make abortion one of the key issues in the 2024 presidential election, believing that it is a way to win votes against the 77-year-old tycoon.
“Under Donald Trump…”
“Florida was a refuge for abortion in the south of the United States,” where other states have already decided to ban or severely restrict this act, deplores Ryan Moran, a nurse in a Florida clinic, to AFP. Jacksonville who performs abortions, deploring a “dark day”.
The former Republican president regularly congratulates himself on being at the origin of the spectacular reversal of jurisprudence of the Supreme Court in June 2022.
The institution, to which he had given a very conservative composition, had then shattered federal protection of the right to abortion, returning responsibility to the states.
Since then, restrictions or bans have been put in place in around twenty states.
This was the case of Arizona, a southwestern state that could prove decisive in the presidential election.
The local Senate, however, voted on Wednesday to repeal a law which prohibited almost all abortions, from the moment of conception. This text, which had remained dormant since 1864, was resurrected by the State Supreme Court.
Last week, the Democratic president also visited Florida, a state won by Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections.
In her speech, the 59-year-old vice-president recalled recent statements by the former Republican president, who in an interview indicated that he would leave the field open to states wishing to place pregnant women under surveillance or pursue legal action those who abort.
Under Donald Trump, it would be normal for women to be monitored and punished by the government.
Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States
Kamala Harris said that if re-elected, the Republican would support the passage of a law banning abortion throughout the United States.
“Smoke us out”
The billionaire suggested he was not in favor of such legislation.
“Let him stop smoking us, because we all know that if he gets the chance, Donald Trump will enact a federal ban on abortion,” the vice-president counterattacked on Wednesday.
By going to Florida, the two Democrats brought the issue of abortion rights almost to the doorstep of Donald Trump, who owns a vast property in Palm Beach, in the south.
PHOTO NICOLE CRAINE, NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is behind the ban on abortion beyond six weeks. He ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary.
In April, the Florida Supreme Court confirmed the entry into force of this law, but at the same time returned the final decision to voters.
The latter will vote in November, at the same time as the presidential and legislative elections, on an amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion in the state.
The voluntary termination of pregnancy has almost always been a politically hot topic in the United States, although, according to polls, the majority of Americans are in favor of the right to abortion.