On Wednesday, CBS Evening News broadcast part two of an interview Norah O’Donnell held with Ron DeSantis. She tried to play “gotcha” with the Florida governor, insisting that the state’s new heartbeat bill would criminalize women who obtain abortions.
It did not go well for her.
Credit: Biden For President/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
O’Donnell introduced the topic by offering up a stat she found which indicates that, since Dobbs, Florida has become a destination state for abortion.
There is new data out that the number of abortions in Florida has actually increased, and increased since Dobbs.
O’Donnell smiled as she delivered that little nugget of information.
But DeSantis had a logical explanation for the abortion increase, pointing out that because other southeastern states have enacted very strict laws, women are going to Florida since its current ban is at 15 weeks.
… the issue with Florida is that the southeastern states have very, very strong pro-life laws. Florida is litigating under a 15-week, and so we have become, against our wishes, a destination.
However, that 15-week ban may not be for long. That’s because Florida passed a heartbeat bill, forbidding abortions beyond six weeks. Currently the law is pending, as it’s tied up in a lawsuit. But once it goes into effect, said DeSantis, that should put a halt to abortion tourism.
Now we’ve also done the Heartbeat Protection Act, which would go into effect once the courts clear this, which I think would probably stop the whole abortion tourism thing, so we don’t want to be an abortion tourism destination.
That’s when O’Donnell to catch DeSantis in a perfect gotcha question.
Norah O’Donnell suggested that once the Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect, women would face penalties for obtaining an illegal abortion. De Santis responded:
We have no criminal — the penalties are for the physician …
The interrogation continued:
O’DONNELL: Governor, I read the bill, it says just this: It does include jail time and fines for “Any person who willfully performs or actively participates in a termination of pregnancy.”
DESANTIS: And that’s for the providers. It is not for the women.
O’DONNELL: Is a woman not actively participating in the termination of her pregnancy?
DESANTIS: No, because she’s not a medical practitioner and so there are no—
O’DONNELL: You are not for criminalizing women?
DESANTIS: No, absolutely not, and that will not happen in Florida.
Ron DeSantis, in fact, has previously expressed sympathy for women facing abortion and feeling that have no other option. As he told Kayleigh McEnany earlier this month at Fox News:
Most of these women do not want to have abortions, but they feel like they have no other options because they get no support. And that’s because a lot of these men are nowhere to be found.
Republican presidential candidates are split about whether or not the federal government should enact abortion regulations. Or, whether the issue should be left with the states.
For example, both Sen. Tim Scott (SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence said they would back a federal 15-week ban on the procedure. Meanwhile, former SC Gov. Nikki Haley doesn’t believe a federal ban would be realistic, since Republicans don’t have enough votes in the Senate to pass such a bill. Of course no Democrat would support it, either.
Norah O’Donnell tried to trap Ron DeSantis into committing to a federal ban, accusing him of not answering her question. He didn’t fall for it, however:
O’DONNELL: Why won’t you answer that question?
DESANTIS: What do you mean?
O’DONNELL: About why you would
DESANTIS: I support—
O’DONNELL: Support a federal ban—
DESANTIS: I support pro-life policies. I will be a pro-life President. But at the same time, I got to chart the course and be honest with people about, okay, how do you advance the ball like we did in Florida. And the way you do that is really bottom-up.
Not all of Norah O’Donnell’s interrogation of Ron DeSantis made it to TV, however. But it’s not hard to see why CBS didn’t broadcast it — the governor took the media to task for their dishonest narrative about Florida, race, and schools.
When we had the fight with Disney over the elementary education about, should you have things about sex and gender identity telling a second grader that their gender’s fluid? We said, ‘Absolutely not.’ Parents in Florida agreed. And throughout — the country I think agreed with that.
The NAACP issued a travel advisory in May that called Florida “openly hostile for African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals.” 2024 Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to the warning in a sit-down interview with @NorahODonnell. pic.twitter.com/kYFcKMRg1f
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) September 13, 2023
Well done, Gov. DeSantis, in once again handling the hostile media like a boss. Well done.
Featured image: “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Cameron says: Yet again, proof that the media is the enemy.
Taylor says: Six weeks is ridiculous. Many women do not even know that they are pregnant that early.
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