As the Biden campaign sets its sights on Florida as a potential state to flip in November, the president’s allies in Congress were in Broward County, Fla., on Tuesday to highlight the battle over abortion rights one day after the Florida Supreme Court both cleared hurdles for a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and approved a statewide referendum this November for an amendment that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra testified at the hearing organized by House Democratic leadership and called the restriction of reproductive rights “medical apartheid.”
“My three daughters have fewer rights today than their mothers had,” Becerra said. “Women in America should not be living in medical apartheid in this country. We all have important work to do.”
The Democrats also queried doctors, advocates and a woman who was unable to end a nonviable pregnancy due to Florida’s current 15-week abortion ban.
“Florida is now ground zero in the fight to protect reproductive freedom, to make our own reproductive healthcare decisions,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at the hearing organized by House Democratic leadership. “The women of this state will have their voices heard in November with respect to an amendment that will make access to abortion guaranteed right and we stand with you in that effort.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 overturned the nearly 50-year precedent set by Roe v. Wade, abortion referendums and elections centered on the fight over reproductive rights have greatly benefited Democrats. Biden, Jeffries and other Democrats around the country hope that trend will continue this November as Republicans and Biden’s presumptive GOP rival, former President Donald Trump, float national abortion bans.
Trump said “we’ll be making a statement next week on abortion” when asked about the Florida Supreme Court ruling during a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Tuesday. He’s previously publicly considered pushing for a 15-week national ban and has long taken credit for the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, pointing to his appointments of three of the six justices in the conservative majority. Last year, he called Florida’s six-week ban “a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”
“Since that horrific decision, we've seen countless policies proposed and passed into law to interfere with our fundamental right to choose if and when to start a family,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, D-Fla., said of the overturning of Roe v. Wade at the Tuesday hearing. “But there is hope. Floridians will have a chance to make their voices heard this November and send these extremist policies back to the 20th century where they should have stayed.”
Through tears, a Florida woman testified at the hearing that she was excited to learn she was pregnant, only to discover after 23 weeks that the fetus had not developed kidneys and was unlikely to survive. She was told by her doctors in Florida they could not give her an abortion because of the current 15-week ban and she would have to carry the pregnancy to term.
Deborah Dorbert said she struggled with her mental health and with telling her four-year-old son that he may not get a sibling after all. After another 14 weeks, she gave birth. The child died in less than two hours. Her toddler had to go to therapy to cope with the loss.
“How do you tell a four-year-old child that siblings can die?” Dorbert recalled. “On March 3, I got induced and had a baby boy. I held him in my arms and he passed away 94 minutes later.”
Biden’s campaign this week revealed their intentions to make a play for Florida, which voted for Barack Obama twice and then Trump twice. Biden lost by around 3.5% in 2020. Only a couple House races in Florida will be remotely competitive, according to Cook Political Report, but abortion rights on the ballot in November could help bolster Democrats in the state in their bid to regain the House majority. Republicans currently have a five-seat majority, but that’s expected to shrink to four with the impending early retirement of Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc.
Wasserman-Schultz apologized to Dobert and told her Democrats would fight to restore abortion rights to prevent similar stories from happening to American women in the future.
“That decision wasn't left — because of the law in Florida — to you and your doctor and your family. I'm so sorry,” the Florida congresswoman said. “And just know that we're going to continue to fight on your behalf to get to November and make sure that we can end this nightmare.”