Florida political leaders react for and against the Supreme Court abortion decision
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, ending nationwide protections on abortion and leaving future abortion restrictions to the states.
Florida’s Republican leaders have not said whether they would seek further abortion constraints in a post-Roe world, beyond the new law they recently passed banning the procedure after 15 weeks. That law goes into effect July 1.
On Friday, Florida’s Republican politicians celebrated the ruling, while Democrats said they feared what comes next.
Here is a collection of their responses, which will be updated:
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio
“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to allow states to regulate abortion was right constitutionally and morally. For nearly half a century, a nation founded on God-given rights denied those rights to its most vulnerable citizens and more than 63 million Americans never got the chance to pursue their dreams. But we must not only continue to take steps to protect the unborn, we must also do more to support mothers and their babies. I will soon introduce a bill to ensure we do everything we can to give every child the opportunity to fully access the promise of America.”
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott
“Today #LifeWins!” Scott wrote in retweeting the breaking news bulletin from Fox News.
READ MORE: The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. What does it mean for Florida?
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg
“Today’s Supreme Court decision to overturn nearly fifty years of progress by dismantling Roe v. Wade is shameful, harmful, and wrong. Without the protections of Roe, radical Republican governors and legislators, including those in Tallahassee, will now have the power to outlaw abortion entirely, regardless of the circumstances. We cannot allow this attack on a woman’s constitutional right to privacy to go unanswered. Congress and state governments must immediately step up and take action to protect a woman’s right to choose — because everyone should have full control over their body, life, and future.”
U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Orlando
“The decision to strike down Roe v. Wade is downright dangerous and tragic. I’m sick and tired of our basic, fundamental right to privacy being politicized. Because of today’s ruling, women will be forced to put their lives on the line, victims of rape and incest will be forced into pregnancy, and we cannot say we control our own bodies in this country. Our daughters and granddaughters have lost a right we fought so hard to protect. But let me be clear: Despite today’s decision, this fight is far from over. In the U.S. Senate, I will stand up, speak out, and relentlessly fight for a woman’s right to choose her own destiny. We refuse to go back to allowing our personal decisions to be made by politicians like Marco Rubio who has obsessively fought to ban abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.”
U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami
“Today marks a dark day in our history for women, girls and families all over the nation with the overturning of Roe’s 50-year precedent. Let’s be clear about what abortion access means for our communities: For millions, it has meant the ability to make choices about their own bodies. That choice should be left to no one else but the individual who will bear the child. Not the state, not unelected judges, and certainly not male legislators who have never felt the joy, pain, and challenges that come with carrying a pregnancy to term.
“The Roe decision extended a second chance for young women who were not yet ready to become mothers. It gave people of all social and economic statuses the ability and the agency to make those choices, regardless of which state they reside in. Today’s decision will not end abortion, but it will limit who has access to safe and legal abortions, placing a greater burden on Black and minority women, families and caretakers.
“While it seems that we’ve lost the battle, the war for reproductive freedoms is far from over. This is a setback to our greater goal of extending reproductive health access to every American, but there is a lot still at stake that we must protect. We need to ensure that birth control and emergency contraception remain available and accessible to everyone who needs it. We must continue to implore male reproductive care options so that the burden does not fall solely on women. We can expand reproductive education. And we should expand the Supreme Court to stop this tidal wave of delegitimizing decisions that go against the will and values of the American people.
“Abortion is health care. Abortion is a human right. And that right must be protected.”
U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami
“Today, the Supreme Court of the United States has applied sound constitutional principles to arrive at its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“SCOTUS overturned decades of wrongful jurisprudence based on the unfounded decision that the U.S. Constitution provides a right to abortion. Legal scholars of varying ideologies have questioned the faulty reasoning of the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, such as Laurence Tribe, who stated, ‘One of the most curious things about Roe is that, behind its own verbal smokescreen, the substantive judgment on which it rests is nowhere to be found.’
“As Justice Byron White wrote in his prescient dissent in Roe v. Wade, the majority opinion in Roe, ‘is an improvident and extravagant exercise of the power of judicial review...’ Justice White also stated, ‘this issue should be left with the people and to the political processes the people have devised to govern their affairs.’
“This decision is long overdue. The Supreme Court is to be commended.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston
“An extremist Supreme Court majority just turned women’s bodies into government property, forcing pregnancy onto millions of women who now face horrific medical, financial and emotional harm. It’s a repulsive, immoral decision that erodes women’s constitutional and human rights and shows just how dangerously out of step that extremist Republicans and their judicial picks are with most Americans. Overturning Roe v. Wade sets a dangerous precedent for upending other decisions that guarantee our rights to live and love as we choose. No personal rights are safe with this right-wing majority — only gun rights are. This radical Supreme Court bloc threatens every American’s right to privacy and control of their own body.”
U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Miami
“As a Christian and the mother of two beautiful daughters, I support life. The Supreme Court decision gives power back to the states and their voters — where decisions should be made, just as the Constitution intends.”
U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Miami
“The Supreme Court’s ultimate duty is to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Today, they did just that. Roe v. Wade was fundamentally wrong from the very beginning. Nowhere in the Constitution is the right to abortion declared, and as properly interpreted by the Tenth Amendment, those rights are guarded by the individual states. With this decision, abortion rights will be properly decided by the people’s elected representatives in their respective state legislatures, the place where rights not enumerated in the Constitution ought to be debated and decided.
“Today’s #Dobbs decision is a huge win for the Constitution. I applaud the Supreme Court for siding with the Constitution and not giving in to the social and political pressures that sought to influence our Court’s jurisprudence.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis
“For nearly fifty years, the U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited virtually any meaningful pro-life protection, but this was not grounded in the text, history or structure of the Constitution. By properly interpreting the Constitution, the Dobbs majority has restored the people’s role in our republic and a sense of hope that every life counts.
“Florida will continue to defend its recently-enacted pro-life reforms against state court challenges, will work to expand pro-life protections, and will stand for life by promoting adoption, foster care and child welfare.”
Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried
“This is a tragic day for women in America. The freedom to make our own choices about our lives, our bodies, and our healthcare is fundamental to our humanity. It’s absolutely devastating to have those rights taken away. It’s not an exaggeration to say that women and girls will die as a result of this decision. Women will now be forced to stay with abusive partners, to carry dangerous and unviable pregnancies to term, to be refused life-saving medical care, to seek out unsafe and illegal ways to have an abortion, to bear children conceived through rape and incest, and to endure a host of other indignities too varied and disturbing to describe. It will have a catastrophic effect on women’s economic prospects and participation in the workforce. It has and will be disastrous for our mental health. It’s cruel and inhumane, and it’s the result of Republicans’ years-long war on women and our rights.
“In Florida, for now, we still have a provision in our state Constitution that protects abortion rights — although that is in question as well. I promise that we will fight with everything we have to keep that from being overturned.”
Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor
“The Florida House agrees with the Supreme Court that abortion is an issue that should be left to the states. I have been and will always continue to be unmovable on the need to protect unborn life. This past session, we passed House Bill 5, the most impactful legislation signed into law in our state’s history to protect babies starting at 15 weeks’ gestation and reduce infant mortality. In Florida, our attention must now shift to the state courts and the Florida Supreme Court as they evaluate HB 5 and determine its constitutionality here — an additional hurdle present in our state.”
Florida Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, D-Plantation
“Women’s rights were set back half a century today with the Supreme Court’s devastating decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. With this destructive and consequential ruling, women in 13 states across the country are immediately stripped of their right to bodily autonomy and self-determination — their rights gone in an instant. With Florida Republicans cruelly proving their appetite for robbing women and girls victimized by the horrific trauma of rape, incest, and human trafficking of their right to an abortion after 15 weeks — period, end of sentence, no exceptions — it is clearly only a matter of time before our state also debates an all-out abortion ban.
“We are facing a future that terrifies me — one where my daughter, and women and girls everywhere, even survivors of sexual assault will be forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term no matter the circumstances. The only thing standing between Floridians and that dangerously real dystopian future is for every single eligible voter to exercise their right at the ballot box. We the people must stand up, speak out, and VOTE as if our personal rights and freedoms depend on it — because they do.”
Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby
“As an adopted child myself, I am grateful for this decision. The court is finally righting a grievous wrong.
“It’s hard to believe we live in a country that has permitted the murder of 63 million innocent children over the last 50 years. Every abortion kills a human being made in the image and likeness of God who deserves the chance to grow up in a loving family.
“I particularly like that the Court mentions, in outlining views of pro-life Americans, ‘a woman who puts her newborn up for adoption today has little reason to fear that the baby will not find a suitable home.’ That is certainly the case here in Florida. Florida is a state that values life. I have been proud to support pro-life, pro-family policies that not only protect innocent, unborn babies, but also support children, parents, and other caring adults willing to raise a child who is not their own.”
Incoming Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples
“I put a high value on life, and we’ve passed many measures in Florida to protect unborn life, promote adoption, and support parents who choose life for their babies.
“I am grateful to see the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. These defenders of the Constitution have given the states rights to do what is right. Here in Florida, we will continue to defend life.”
