Biden condemns Florida's 6-week abortion ban, blames Trump
President Biden on Tuesday condemned a six-week abortion ban in Florida that will take effect in a little over a week, placing the blame squarely on former President Trump.
In a brief campaign speech in Tampa, Biden blasted the presumptive GOP nominee for appointing the justices who ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion.
“Next week, one of the nation's most extreme anti-abortion laws takes effect here in Florida. It's criminalizing reproductive health care for before women even know whether they're pregnant,” Biden said. “Let's be real clear. There's one person responsible for this nightmare. And he's acknowledged and he brags about it. Donald Trump.”
Biden's campaign is making abortion rights one of its top issues and is aiming to remind voters nearly every day of Trump’s record on the issue.
Biden’s team is rolling out ads featuring testimony from women impacted by state abortion bans, and Vice President Harris and other top administration officials have been crisscrossing the country, hammering Republicans and Trump on abortion restrictions.
Polls show a majority of voters oppose abortion bans, and Republicans have suffered a series of losses at the ballot box that have been blamed on their abortion policy.
Florida has been voting increasingly Republican in recent elections, but Tuesday’s speech was part of the Biden campaign’s effort to use the state Supreme Court’s abortion ruling as leverage to flip the state.
The court earlier this month ruled that there is no right to an abortion in the state, upholding a 15-week abortion ban in a decision that automatically triggered a six-week ban to take effect 30 days later.
The campaign has also pointed to a November ballot measure Floridians can vote on guaranteeing access to abortion up to the point of viability, which is about 24 weeks. If the initiative passes it would overturn the six-week ban.
Trump has criticized Florida’s six-week ban, as well as a near-total ban in Arizona. But he also said that decisions about the legality of abortion are rightfully being left up to the states.
In his remarks, Biden mocked Trump for selling $60 Bibles and called out his support among evangelical voters.
"[Trump] described the Dobbs decision as a miracle. Maybe it’s coming from that Bible he's trying to sell,” Biden said.
“Folks, it was no miracle. It was a political deal … he made with the evangelical base of the Republican Party to look past his moral and character flaws in exchange for his commitment to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe,” Biden added.
Trump said he doesn’t support a federal abortion ban, but Biden said Trump can’t be trusted.
“Don't think he's [not] making a deal right now with MAGA extremists to ban nationwide abortion in every single state, because he's making it,” Biden said.