Donald Trump went after Ron DeSantis again today about the heartbeat bill the pro-life Florida Governor signed to protect babies from abortions.
In a new interview with Newsmax, Trump called DeSantis a derogatory name and claimed that “a lot” of people oppose the heartbeat law even though polling data shows a majority of Florida residents and a majority of Americans are pro-life and support heartbeat laws to protect babies.
“Now DeSantis, or Ron DeSanctimonious as I call him, he came out with the six weeks. Other people agree with it. And a lot of people don’t,” Trump told Newsmax.
Trump alluded to some sort of deal he believes he could reach on abortion if elected president. Trump offered no specifics on what the deal would be but claimed it would appeal to everyone nationwide.
“We’re in a position now – and I’m going to be leading the charge – we’re in the position now where we can get something that the whole country can agree with, and that’s only because I got us out of the Roe v. Wade where the pro-life people had absolutely nothing to say,” he said.
Asked to offer more specifics, Trump merely indicated he is in a “very powerful negotiating position.”
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“But on pro-life, I will tell you what I did on Roe v. Wade, nobody else, for 50 years they’ve been trying to do it. I got it done. And now we’re in a position to make a really great deal, and a deal that people want,” Trump concluded.
Trump didn’t explain what a potential deal could be, but he could be alluding to a 20-week ban or some other national ban on late-term abortions.
Although polls show Americans are pro-life and strongly support banning late-term abortions, Trump would have a lot of heavy lifting to do to get any such bill through Congress because pro-abortion Democrats will certainly filibuster such legislation in the Senate.
Trump’s new comments are the second time he has attacked DeSantis for signing the pro-life bill and DeSantis responded — saying he was “proud” to have signed legislation to save babies from abortions.
DeSantis made Florida the next state to officially protect the lives of unborn children after Roe was overturned last summer. Pro-Life Americans from across the country celebrated the new law, which protects babies whose heartbeats can easily be detected and whose lives have existed for a month and a half starting at conception.
But as LifeNews reported, Trump said that the 6-week abortion ban that DeSantis signed that protects unborn babies with beating hearts from being killed in abortions is potentially “too harsh.”
“He has to do what he has to do,” Trump said when asked about Florida’s six-week ban. “If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don’t even know if he knew what he was doing. But he signed six weeks, and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh.”
When asked about whether he would support a six-week ban, Trump replied, “I’m looking at all options.”
“For 50 years, they’ve been trying to get rid of Roe v Wade. I was able to do it. Nobody else could have done that but me. And I was able to do it [by nominating] three excellent judges on the Justices of the Supreme Court. And I was able to do that,” he said.
“I’m looking at all alternatives. I’m looking at many alternatives,” Trump added when asked if six weeks was too harsh. “But I was able to get us to the table by terminating Roe v. Wade. That’s the most important thing that’s ever happened for the pro-life movement.”
A reporter asked DeSantis about Trump’s remarks and the Florida governor said Trump was incorrect about pro-life people thinking protecting babies from abortions is “too harsh.”
“Protecting an unborn child when there’s the detectable heartbeat is something that almost, probably, 99% of pro lifers support,” DeSantis said. “I signed the bill. I was proud to do it. He won’t answer whether he would sign it or not.”
“It’s something that other states like Iowa under Governor Kim Reynolds have enacted,” he added.
That response mirrors what DeSantis said when he signed the bill.
“We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at the time he signed the law. “I applaud the Legislature for passing the Heartbeat Protection Act that expands pro-life protections and provides additional resources for young mothers and families.”
The law would save tens of thousands of lives annually and provide $25 million in aid to women and families
In a post earlier this week on Truth Social, Trump took credit for bringing about the end of Roe v. Wade and all of the pro-life laws states have passed to protect babies from abortions.
Trump said he “was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” and put movement in a “strong negotiating position.”
“Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to,” he wrote. “Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”
The fanciful claim does not square with reality.
President Trump certainly deserves credit for naming justices to the Supreme Court who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. He deserves credit for an administration that was solidly pro-life. And he deserves the support of pro-life Americans if he is the nominee against the abortion president Joe Biden.
But the pro-life movement has been fighting abortion day in and day out for almost 50 years — working feverishly to protect babies state by state and get the right justices on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. Pro-Life Americans were fighting to protect babies from abortion for decades before Trump even became pro-life in the years leading up to his presidential run.
Trump owes a debt of gratitude to a pro-life movement that worked tirelessly to get him elected over radical abortion activist Hillary Clinton and to the pro-life Americans who voted for the members of the Senate who confirmed Trump’s judges.
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And the slew of pro-life laws that have been protecting babies from abortion in over a dozen states since the Dobbs decision are not Trump’s doing.
Some of the abortion bans were passed before Dobbs, with states approving trigger laws to ban abortions once that day arrived. Other states have since passed bans on abortions at various time periods – none of which Trump has publicly supported. These bans are the results of pro-life advocates and pro-life lawmakers in respective states fighting Democrats, the abortion industry and the liberal media throwing millions of dollars and a massive pack of lies at them. In none of these states has Trump spoken up for the legislation or refuted the litany of lies about the bills.
In fact, in a recent interview, Trump refused to take a position on these pro-life laws to protect babies and merely vaguely supported them. Moreover, Trump criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, saying that the bill the governor signed to protect babies who have beating hearts from abortion is possibly “too harsh.”
