Trump campaign responds
Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee, responded to Biden’s speech by telling CNA that the incumbent president’s “radical abortion agenda — refusing to support any limits and allowing abortion up to the moment of birth — is wildly out of touch with most Americans.”
“But that will not stop him from pitching it to Florida voters,” he went on. “Biden must have forgotten that thousands of Americans have fled from extremist Democrat policies to prosperous and pro-life states like Florida.”
Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, told CNA that though Biden “may be a self-proclaimed Catholic, or a ‘cafeteria Catholic’ as he was recently described by the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C.,” his actions “prove he does not deserve the vote of Catholic Americans.”
“Biden supports abortion up until birth, his Department of Justice targets and imprisons pro-life activists, and Biden’s FBI plotted to infiltrate Catholic Masses to spy on attendees,” she said. “President Trump will end Biden’s discrimination against all Christians and stand for religious freedom, as he did in his first term.”
Floridians weigh in
In response to Biden’s speech, Lynda Bell, president of Florida Right to Life, told CNA that she was “not surprised but disgusted.”
Bell called the Florida abortion amendment touted by Biden “radical,” stating: “Biden doesn’t care about women, Biden doesn’t care about girls, Biden doesn’t care about safety, Biden cares about votes. If he thinks sacrificing babies through birth will get him a vote, then he’ll do it. The man has zero principles.”
A group of pro-life Floridians from Turning Point USA also held a “rally for life” outside the building where Biden gave his speech.
Amazing afternoon at our @TPAction_ ‘Rally for Life’! Joe Biden was greeted in Tampa, FL by so many Patriots who reject his extreme abortion agenda.
Thank you to everyone who came out today to support LIFE!???????????????? pic.twitter.com/QXBU1cE8QM
— Sydney Salatto (@sydmartsal) April 23, 2024
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also criticized Biden for making a trip to Florida to advocate for abortion and said his efforts to win Florida would be in vain.
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“He’s coming down to try to support a constitutional amendment that will mandate abortion up until the moment of birth, that will eliminate parental consent for minors, and that’s written in a way that is intentionally designed to deceive voters,” DeSantis said. “So, all I can tell you is Floridians are not buying what Joe Biden is selling and in November we’re going to play an instrumental role in sending him back to Delaware where he belongs.”
Democrats place hopes on abortion
Vice President Kamala Harris also hit the campaign trail this week advocating for a national right to abortion.
At a stop on her “Reproductive Freedoms” tour in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Monday, Harris slammed Trump as the orchestrator of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and urged supporters to send “Joe and me to the White House.”
John White, a professor of politics at The Catholic University of America, told CNA that though he believes pro-abortion voters will turn out to the polls in large numbers, he does not think they will be able to win the state.
“Abortion is a motivating factor in this year’s election,” White said. “If the past is prologue, it is an issue that helps Democrats, he added.