Abortion ban betrays women and may break GOP’s grip

Anti-reproductive rights extremists in the Florida Legislature are on the brink of going too far.

A proposed ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, which in reality could be as few as one or two weeks, will strip fundamental rights to bodily autonomy from millions of people, exposing the ugly lie behind all the boasting that Florida is the freest state in the nation.

Hypocrisy has become a hallmark of state leaders. Far-right extremism is the new normal. But this will mark a new low, and the sense of betrayal must be particularly strong for people facing the possibility of forced pregnancy who are represented by female lawmakers.

It’s entirely possible to oppose abortion while recognizing that carrying forward with an unwanted pregnancy — a right that would become even narrower after 15 weeks — could doom many of their constituents to a lifetime of poverty or put lives at risk, either through health complications or inextricable ties to abusive partners. Giving women a narrow escape hatch, then setting a 15-week ban on abortion, even for victims of rape or incest, was a cruel compromise last year. Slamming that portal shut just a year later is a signal of callous disregard for anyone in this state with ovaries and a uterus.

If Florida Republicans can stomach that, they should then consider political reality, which was written in the tears that filled Sen. Alexis Calatayud’s eyes as she explained why she couldn’t vote in favor of the Senate version of the legislation

(SB 300) during its hearing in the Senate Health Policy Committee on Monday.

The freshman Miami-Dade Republican — one of several GOP lawmakers who pulled off upsets in districts expected to favor Democrats — said she’d made promises she intended to keep. She supported the 15-week ban passed last year, but during her campaign, told voters in her district that she would not support further restrictions. It’s a promise she kept, even though it’s probably going to cost her politically.

It’s routine in Tallahassee for leadership to employ threats to block other legislation or hometown spending projects to keep lawmakers in line.

Here’s more political reality: Either option — forcing a lawmaker to abandon her principles and promises, or sending her home to her district without funding for projects benefiting her constituents — could doom her chances of re-election. That could cost the GOP its dominant majority in the House or Senate in the 2024 election with a presidential race triggering far greater voter participation among young voters, who are most vulnerable to unplanned pregnancy. Politically speaking, breaking the GOP’s grip on Florida is the only possible benefit from this outrageous legislation.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders may be tone deaf to the harsh authoritarianism that dominates so much of their legislation coming out of Florida these days.

They may be comfortable with the ever-increasing hypocrisy of their own stated policies, such as their insistence that freedom is paramount when it comes to life-saving vaccines but negligible when describing a right to govern one’s own reproductive future.

But at the very least, Republicans should consider the anger they are causing among their core constituents. The majority of Floridians support access to safe abortions in the first two trimesters of pregnancy. The support for freedom becomes overwhelming when a near-total ban is under discussion, and it cuts across all parties and ages.

If they don’t care about women’s rights, lawmakers at least could consider saving their own political hides.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.