President Joe Biden’s reelection team is looking to seize on the Florida Supreme Court’s abortion ruling this week, further putting a spotlight on an issue that has proved fruitful for Democrats.
On Tuesday, the incumbent president’s campaign declared the Sunshine State, once a swing state that has shifted drastically to the right in recent elections, as “winnable” this November.
As the campaign has often done in the wake of abortion restrictions enacted by states since Roe v. Wade’s overturning in June 2022, Biden’s campaign was swift to blame the president’s predecessor and likely 2024 rival, former President Donald Trump, for Monday’s Florida Supreme Court decision.
The decision by Florida’s high court paved a path for the state to implement a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a move backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. In a separate ruling, however, the court also cleared the way for voters to weigh in on a measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution – putting the issue on the ballot this November.
“With Florida’s six-week ban, women across the entire Southeastern region of this country will soon have very few places to go to get the reproductive health care they need,” Biden’s 2024 campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said on a call with reporters. “It is unacceptable that the millions of women living here have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. And there is only one person truly to blame: Donald Trump.”
Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, allowing states to enact restrictions and bans on abortion around the country.
Florida and North Carolina’s neighbors, South Carolina and Georgia, ban the practice after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which is often around six weeks.
“After the Dobbs decision, North Carolina and Florida were two of the last places in our region that women could get the care that they needed,” Cooper said, referencing the name of the decision that overturned Roe. “But now with Florida’s six-week ban going into effect, women across the entire southeast region will have very few places to go to to get the reproductive care that they need.”
Florida had been enforcing its 15-week ban. North Carolina prohibits abortions after 12 weeks; Cooper attempted to veto the ban, but state legislators overrode his veto thanks in part to a Democrat who changed parties, giving Republicans a supermajority.
Trump has previously suggested that he would support a national ban on abortions after about 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“We’ll be making a statement next week on abortion,” Trump said during a campaign event on Tuesday in Michigan when asked if he supported Florida’s six-week ban.
Last year, Trump called the six-week ban in Florida, signed by former 2024 GOP presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis, “a terrible mistake.”
Democrats have sought to put the issue of abortion front and center since Roe’s overturning. The topic has galvanized voters nationwide, even in traditionally red states like Kansas and Ohio, where voters overwhelmingly backed measures codifying abortion rights in the last few years.
Democrats are continuing to make the issue a key focus for their 2024 campaign after a surprisingly strong midterm showing in 2022 and victories in several special elections nationwide since Roe was overturned. Support for abortion access has risen to record highs in recent polling in the aftermath of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health ruling.
On Tuesday, the Biden campaign launched its latest attempt to hone in on the topic with a new ad highlighting Trump talking about his role in overturning Roe. The 30-second spot is set to air in battleground states during programming such as ESPN and "American Idol" as well as MLB games, including the Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies.
“Donald Trump doesn’t trust women,” Biden says in the ad. “I do.”
It comes as the Biden camp is setting its sights on flipping Florida – a goal that could be characterized ambitious considering the state voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and reelected DeSantis by a 20-point margin less than two years ago.
“Our agenda, our coalition, and the unique dynamics this election presents make it clear: President Biden is in a stronger position to win Florida this cycle than he was in 2020,” Chavez Rodriguez said in a memo on Monday. “Make no mistake: Florida is not an easy state to win, but it is a winnable one for President Biden.”
The memo from the Biden camp outlining the campaign’s case for Florida voters, also points to social security and medicare as key issues, specifically pointing to Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott. Scott amended a policy proposal last year in which he originally argued federal legislation, including social security and Medicare should sunset after five years.
The memo also went on to note that Florida leads the country in enrollment in the Obama-era Affordable Care Act – another topic the Biden team has sought to take out on the trail as Trump toys with a renewed push to repeal it.
“The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social.