Republican Sen. Rick Scott softens his abortion place after Florida Supreme Court docket ruling

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Sen. Rick Scott of Florida this week joined the ranks of Republican incumbents scrambling to strike a steadiness on reproductive rights, saying he opposes a November ballot initiative to strike down his state’s six-week abortion ban however thinks Congress ought to depart these selections to the states.

Scott, who’s in search of reelection this fall, was one in all a number of senators who adopted former President Donald Trump’s lead in softening GOP messaging on abortion. It comes within the aftermath of the Supreme Court docket’s 2022 determination overturning the constitutional proper to an abortion and leaving the matter for states to determine. Democrats, buoyed by a collection of wins in state poll initiatives and different contests since then, have made it clear that they hope to place the problem entrance and heart this November.

After the Florida Supreme Court docket authorized the abortion modification for November’s poll, Scott stated in an announcement that he believes in “affordable limits positioned on abortion” and is concentrated on guaranteeing that in vitro fertilization therapies are protected and adoptions are extra reasonably priced.

“Everyone knows that life is the best present we’ve ever obtained, we need to welcome each unborn child into life, and we favor adoption over abortion,” Scott stated.

Scott is softening his messaging amid roiling politics on abortion throughout the nation. The Arizona Supreme Court determined Tuesday that state officers can implement an 1864 legislation criminalizing all abortions besides when a lady’s life is at stake.

Florida Democrats, in the meantime, are pushing not solely to enshrine abortion rights within the state’s Structure however to invoke the problem of their efforts to unseat Scott and different Republicans. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, one of many main Democrats in search of her occasion’s nomination towards Scott, stated the combat was over the “primary dignity for a girl to have the ability to make that selection of her personal physique, of when and methods to begin a household.”

Mucarsel-Powell stated in an interview after Florida’s courtroom ruling final week that voting to help the state’s abortion rights modification in November isn’t the top sport. She stated voters have to vote Scott out of workplace so he “doesn’t have a say on what occurs to ladies.”

As soon as seen because the quintessential swing state, Florida has develop into extra conservative in recent times. Trump gained there in 2016 and 2020, however Democrats, which path in registration numbers by some 800,000 voters, are hoping a deal with abortion rights will swing the state back in their favor.

Scott has been flagged by nationwide Democrats as a primary goal this yr of their efforts to protect a slim majority within the Senate, although Democrats are defending extra seats than Republicans. The stakes are particularly excessive for Scott, who stated final month that he’s “severely contemplating” working for Senate management. In 2022, he ran towards U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell to be the Senate’s high Republican however misplaced with a 37-10 vote.

McConnell just lately introduced his intention to step down from Senate management later this yr.

The April 1 courtroom opinions from Florida’s Supreme Court docket included affirmation of a 15-week abortion ban and a set off mechanism that will put the state’s six-week abortion ban in place by subsequent month. The Democratic Senatorial Marketing campaign Committee stated Florida ladies have larger stakes on the poll than they’ve in years.

“The combat towards these new restrictions on entry to abortion will shine a brighter highlight on Rick Scott’s lengthy, harmful file of supporting draconian abortion bans,” stated Maeve Coyle, the DSCC’s spokesperson. “In November, Florida voters will arise for girls’s freedom to make their most private medical selections by rejecting this abortion ban and firing Rick Scott from the Senate.”