Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) defended his state’s six-week abortion ban Friday but dodged a question about whether he would impose the same six-week ban at the federal level.
While being interviewed by Tucker Carlson at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, DeSantis said he wants to play a role in limiting access to abortion if elected president but declined to go into specifics, saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” when asked about implementing the ban nationwide.
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“So I mean, of course, I want to sign pro-life legislation. I think it’s something that we need to develop a culture of life in this country,” DeSantis said when asked about his intentions as president regarding abortion. “I think it’s going to take time to make progress in some parts of the country. But as president, I will be somebody who will use the bully pulpit to support governors like Kim Reynolds when she’s got a bill, other states as they advance the cause of life.”
DeSantis also defended his state’s six-week ban, saying that despite donors and political allies urging him not to sign it, he did it anyway because he got into office to do “what’s right.”
“It’s been written about how I lost a lot of really big supporters,” he said. “Some of them just aren’t pro-life. Some of them think it’s a political liability.”
DeSantis signed the ban back in April, but it is currently blocked by the courts pending litigation. However, the state currently has a 15-week abortion ban in place.
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The Florida governor also praised Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), who was in attendance at the event, for signing a similar six-week abortion ban earlier on Friday. Former President Donald Trump has recently been slammed for his attacks on Reynolds.
“I’m very proud to say Kim Reynolds is here, and she signed a great heartbeat bill today,” DeSantis exclaimed. “We were able to do that in Florida. We had a lot of opposition to that. I’m proud to have been a pro-life governor, and I will be a pro-life president.”
