DeSantis and Iowa Gov. Reynolds tag team against Trump calling abortion laws ‘terrible’
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds both pushed back on former President Donald Trump’s recent comments calling strict abortion laws “terrible” and disastrous electorally for Republicans.
The former president floated abortion restrictions after 15 weeks as a potential number for a large swath of the public to support, but said instances like Florida’s six-week ban are a “terrible thing.”
“I think what [Gov. Ron DeSantis] did was a terrible thing, a terrible mistake,” Trump said.
Reynolds recently signed into law a provision banning abortion after a heartbeat is detected in an unborn child, which typically occurs around six weeks after gestation.
“It’s never a ‘terrible thing’ to protect innocent life,” Reynolds posted on X, not specifically naming Trump, but still quoting him. “I’m proud of the fetal heartbeat bill the Iowa legislature passed and I signed in 2018 and again earlier this year.”
The Florida governor signed into law a six-week ban this year, which would take effect as soon as the Florida Supreme Court upholds the state’s 2022 15-week ban.
DeSantis reposted Reynolds’ comments and praised Iowa’s abortion restrictions.
“I applaud Governor @KimReynoldsIA and the Iowa legislature for promoting a culture of life,” DeSantis said. “Donald Trump is wrong to attack the heartbeat bill as ‘terrible.’ Standing for life is a noble cause.”
Trump made additional comments on controversies surrounding his remarks on Tuesday, pointing to the ending of Roe v. Wade via his appointed Supreme Court justices.
“For 52 years, people talked, spent vast amounts of money, but couldn’t get the job done,” he said. “I got the job done! Thanks to the three great Supreme Court Justices I appointed, this issue has been returned to the States, where all Legal Scholars, on both sides, felt it should be.”
“Now the Pro Life Community has TREMENDOUS NEGOTIATING POWER,” he said.
DeSantis’ presidential campaign said the governor will “NEVER sell out conservatives to win praise from corporate media or the Left.”
The former president additionally warned that many Republicans speak “inarticulately” about the issue of abortion and warned those who push very strict laws are “not going to win” unless they’re in certain parts of the U.S.
“You will win on this issue when you come up with the right number of weeks,” he said.
Speaking to how he believes Democrats will come to the negotiating table on abortion, Trump said many of them already “don’t want to be radical on the issue.”
“They don’t want to kill a baby in the seventh month, or the ninth month, or after birth.”
