White House denounces Florida abortion ban as ‘extreme and dangerous’

The White House has denounced Florida’s six-week abortion ban, stating that it is “extreme and dangerous.”

Florida’s state legislature passed the ban on Thursday, and Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to sign it. The Biden administration strongly opposed this move.

The press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, stated in a press release, “Today, Florida’s Republican supermajority-controlled legislature sent an extreme and dangerous new abortion ban to Governor DeSantis’s desk for signature. The ban flies in the face of fundamental freedoms and is out of step with the views of the vast majority of the people of Florida and of all the United States.”

This is not the first abortion ban in Florida, as the state already has a 15-week ban that DeSantis signed into law last year. The new six-week ban will replace the existing law if signed by the governor. Moreover, the bill could affect the presidential election since DeSantis is a potential candidate for the 2024 GOP nomination.

Jean-Pierre emphasized that “this ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant,” and “this ban would also impact the nearly 15 million women of reproductive age who live in abortion-banning states throughout the South, many of whom have previously relied on travel to Florida as an option to access care.”

The bill does include exceptions if the woman’s life is at risk, or if she’s pregnant as a result of rape or incest until 15 weeks.

The abortion ban is one in a series of conservative-led states that have followed in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Democrats, on the other hand, have been vocal in support of abortion rights.

Florida House Democrats submitted over 50 amendments to the bill, but all were rejected by the Republican-controlled House.

The White House statement accuses Republicans of “dismantling our fundamental freedoms,” while Jean-Pierre pledged that “President Biden and his administration stand with women and physicians-and we will continue to fight to protect access to abortion and defend reproductive rights.”

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