On Aug 16th, a Florida appeals court upheld a decision to force a 16-year-old to give birth under a ban signed into law by Ron DeSantis in 2020. This news comes as Ron DeSantis has spent the past several months dodging questions about how far he wants to roll back reproductive rights. Earlier this month, DeSantis took the unprecedented step of indefinitely suspending twice-elected State Attorney Andrew Warren for pledging not to throw Floridians in jail for violating DeSantis’s abortion ban.
“Thanks to Ron DeSantis, Florida is now forcing a teenager to give birth against her will. That is an appalling and dangerous overreach by the Governor, who claims to represent the ‘free state of Florida,’ but wants to make women’s healthcare decisions for them. DeSantis has refused to answer basic questions about abortion restrictions for months now, but his extreme bans are already leading to Florida women suffering severe consequences,” said Florida Democratic Party spokesperson Travis Reuther.
