MIAMI—After Republicans endured seismic losses in the polls this past week due to the issue of abortion, it was a foregone conclusion that the moderators of the NBC News Republican Presidential debate were going to ask the candidates where they stood on the issue.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who recently signed a 6-week abortion ban into law, did not say if he would support a national 15-week ban on abortion.
“I Stand for a culture of life,” said Gov. DeSantis, adding that Americans were “better off when everybody counts.”
DeSantis asserted that Republicans were losing the “referenda” on abortion.
While DeSantis appeared to have dodged the question, Ambassador Nikki Haley addressed it head-on, taking more of a moderate and populist position,” saying that abortion was a “personal issue for every woman and every man.” Haley also said that the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe vs. Wade was "a wrong that was made right."
The right to have an abortion is now up to the states, and many of these states, like Ohio, are now putting the controversial wedge issue on the ballot.
Haley added, “No Republican president can ban abortions,” and that she wants Americans to “find consensus” on the issue instead of taking a hardline position.
“Stop the judgment. We don’t need to divide America over this issue anymore,” added Haley.
Senator Tim Scott pushed for a national 15-week national ban on abortion, and went as far as to call out both Haley and DeSantis to join him in supporting a “15-week federal limit” on abortions.
During the second presidential debate in Simi Valley, California, DeSantis stated the he supported a 15-week ban on abortion.
DeSantis’s remark could be seen as pivot away from his support of the controversial 6 week abortion ban he signed into law.
Polling shows that most Floridians support a woman’s right to choose and believe that abortions should be available to residents.
DeSantis’s Senior Advisor Jason Johnson told The Floridian that “Pro-lifers were “caught flat-footed” on the issue and that Republican candidates nationwide— past and present— “had not done a good job of articulating the extreme position that the Democrats take on abortion.”
Johnson added that Democrats refuse to take a position on how late in a pregnancy a woman can have an abortion.
DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin added that DeSantis was sticking to his support of a 15-week national abortion ban.
Voters will most likely have the opportunity to vote for or against abortion in the 2024 general election, if enough signatures are garnered to get the issue on the ballot.
