Florida politicians of all stripes reacted swiftly to the news Monday night of a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion that suggests the court is in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion.
On the topic of the leak itself, both Florida U.S. Republican senators accused liberals of leaking the draft opinion, though they did not cite any evidence.
Sen. Marco Rubio went first, tweeting, “The next time you hear the far left preaching about how they are fighting to preserve our Republic’s institutions & norms remember how they leaked a Supreme Court opinion in an attempt to intimidate the justices on abortion.”
Rick Scott also weighed in on the leak of the draft opinion.
“This breach shows that radical Democrats are working even harder to intimidate & undermine the Court,” he tweeted in part.
Both senators’ certainty about the motivations behind the leak contradicted other theories by some observers of the Court who speculated that the leak could just as well have come from a conservative.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings, who is challenging Marco Rubio for Senate, tweeted that striking down Roe v. Wade is “appalling and extremely dangerous.”
She added that “we refuse to go back to being treated as second-class citizens whose personal decisions are made by politicians like Marco Rubio, who has fought relentlessly against the right of Florida women to control their own destiny.”
The Democratic contenders for Florida governor were quick to weigh in as well, each condemning the draft ruling but offering somewhat different tones.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist of St. Petersburg said that the decision only ups the stakes for the governor’s race.
“If true, the fight for a woman’s right to choose will be left up to each state to decide … and front and center in this fall’s election. We must defeat DeSantis,” he said in a Monday night tweet.
He also added two tweets about his own history on abortion issues, saying, “As your governor I vetoed an anti-abortion bill. And I’ll do it again if need be — because I will always stand with women.”
It is true that Crist vetoed a bill that would have required an ultrasound before abortions could be performed. But PolitiFact found that his past positions on abortion have been inconsistent.
In a statement released Tuesday morning, Crist added that the U.S. Senate should follow the House of Representatives to enact abortion protections in law, “and if need be, end the filibuster to ensure its passage.”
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced a plan for a news conference at the Freedom Tower in Miami Tuesday afternoon. She said she was not asking for money, but was asking for volunteers. She wrote that, “I’m going to do everything in my power to protect the women of Florida and preserve freedom over our bodies — including beating Ron DeSantis.”
State Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, said the brunt of the ruling would be felt by “women who cannot afford to cross state lines, the majority of them Black and Brown, to states that allow access to this medical care.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis had not released a statement or tweeted as of Tuesday morning.
Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, did not put out a statement of his own as of Tuesday morning, but retweeted another message from Rubio citing a Bible passage that reads, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”
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