South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
The young face of Ron DeSantis’ abortion ban
Last week, Ron DeSantis’ abortion ban was given a face. Not one of an adult woman who simply wasn’t ready to bear a child for personal or medical reasons — but one of a child.
This summer, while most kids spent their days at camp or visiting friends and family, one middle-school girl in North Florida survived incest and, tragically, learned she had become pregnant.
The young girl saw a doctor because she did not want to have to carry her attacker’s child. But the doctor was unable to treat her because of Ron DeSantis.
See, DeSantis has decided it doesn’t matter if you’ve been raped, it doesn’t matter if you’re a victim of incest, it doesn’t even seem to matter how old you are. In Ron DeSantis’ Florida, women and girls don’t get to choose, he does.
This young girl had to travel two states away to find the freedom to make a decision about her own body.
She was forced to make this most personal decision in an unfamiliar place, far from home, because DeSantis thinks he knows better than women, girls and their doctors. Because DeSantis thinks children should be forced to have children.
A middle school girl who survived incest and forced to carry the results of that attack. Let that sink in.
For 50 years, women and doctors warned what would happen if Roe v. Wade fell.
And in less than six months we have seen their predictions come true, with a middle school girl now paying the ultimate price of DeSantis’ politics.
That is what is at stake this November. I am disgusted by what this young girl has had to live through, and I am disgusted by what so many girls and women like her are being forced to endure thanks to our governor.
I am running for governor to make sure this never happens again. I support a woman’s freedom to make choices about her own body.
DeSantis signed an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape and incest — and if he is re-elected, he will pursue a plan to ban abortion in Florida, full-stop. Read that again: Ron DeSantis is ready to outlaw abortion completely.
He has shown us he is willing to use the full power of the state to punish women and the doctors who have sworn an oath to treat them, no matter the age or the circumstance.
This attack on women’s freedom is consistent with DeSantis’ approach: You are free in Florida if you look, think and act like him.
If you do not, he will use his power to punish you and take away your most fundamental right, your control over your body.
To him, the culture wars are simply a way to generate headlines, raise money and solidify his position with the most extreme elements of his party’s base — all so he can run for president in 2024.
He does not care who gets hurt or ignored in the process. He does not care about Floridians facing skyrocketing property insurance premiums — or those who have lost coverage altogether. He does not care about families facing ever-increasing utility bills or rent payments.
And most tragically, he does not care when a middle-school-aged girl — a middle-schooler, for God’s sake — who has survived the horror of incest is forced to flee Florida to get the medical care she needs.
Florida, we are better than that.
On my first day as governor, I will sign an executive order defending the right to access a safe abortion as guaranteed by the Florida Constitution.
I will veto any anti-choice legislation and prohibit state agencies from infringing on the Florida Constitution’s privacy clause.
We can restore women’s freedoms on Nov. 8. We can ensure that no girl is forced to leave her home to get the care she needs. And we can restore decency, compassion and kindness to our great state.