Within the space of a few hours, pro-life advocates in Florida scored two important victories. And one person who is not happy is Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist.
First, Judge Angela Dempsey in Tallahassee recently dismissed a 7-year-old lawsuit challenging a state law that requires pregnant women to wait 24 hours between being counseled on having an abortion and actually undergoing the procedure.
The judge rejected arguments by pro-choice activists who claimed it violated women’s privacy and caused irreparable harm. Dempsey said waiting a day was not a “significant intrusion” in reaching such a decision, and noted that 26 other states have a similar law.
Then, on Thursday Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that bans abortions after 15 weeks.
This, too, will surely ignite a legal challenge. Although it’s possible the U.S. Supreme Court could render the issue moot. The court is considering a Mississippi case based on a similar law.
However that turns out, the new law does not slow down Florida’s abortion industry very much. According to a report released last September by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, only 4.5 percent of abortions in Florida in 2020 came after the 15th week.
Still, Crist, a Clearwater Democrat who was once a Republican, was critical of DeSantis and the law.
In a video released on Thursday, Crist claimed DeSantis had signed a law that took away a woman’s right to “choose her own destiny.”
Never mind the baby she’s carrying, or that Crist would likely struggle if someone asked him to define what a woman is.
“It’s wrong. It’s unconscionable. And it’s probably unconstitutional,” Crist said.
Crist then recalled that when he was a governor – and still a Republican – he vetoed a bill that was “trying to take away a woman’s right to choose.”
“I would do it again to protect your rights,” he said.
Crist was apparently referring to a bill he vetoed that required women considering abortion to undergo an ultrasound before having the procedure.
Yet Crist has been all over the map on this issue.
Running for governor in 2006 as a Republican Crist said he was “pro-life.” In his 2014 memoir, Crist wrote, “I have always been pro-life. I believe life is precious and should be treasured. I like being alive. I don’t think abortion is desirable.”
But that came with a caveat. “I’ve always been cautious about imposing my point of view on others when it comes to a decision as personal as this. … If the thought is less government and more freedom, where’s the freedom part? Seriously! Instead of trying to tell other people how to live their lives, just go and live yours! … And what could be more important – or more personal – than a woman and her own body?”
So abortion equals freedom – unless you’re the one inside the womb.
Yet Crist also once trumpeted that as state attorney general he successfully defended a law requiring parental notification before a minor obtained an abortion. And in a previous election for the U.S. Senate, Crist, again as a Republican, denounced his Democratic opponent for not voting against partial-birth abortion.
Back in 2014, PolitiFact did a “fact-check” of Crist’s record on abortion. The analysis revealed the issue was a Rorschach test for him.
One example, in 2006 he attacked a competitor for the GOP gubernatorial nomination as pro-choice, and declared himself pro-life, after spending years declaring that he was pro-choice.
As now-Sen. Marco Rubio said when he ran against Crist for the Senate in 2010, “I think it’s always funny to listen to the governor attack me for the positions he himself held just six months ago, when he was trying to be the biggest conservative in the world and win the Republican primary.”
Or as PolitiFact put noted in its “fact-check,” Crist’s views “have always been difficult to pin down. … He’s also called himself both ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice,’ and he seems comfortable offering up his own personal definitions of the terms.”
But one thing is for sure in the woke era of 2022: Crist’s party will not allow him to offer his personal definitions of himself.
This means voters can probably believe Crist would veto the 15-week bill.
Democrats have made it clear that there is no room in their party for pro-lifers, not even someone of Crist’s considerable verbal-gymnastic skills.
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Bad take. Keep your views on abortion limited to your own body.