DeSantis won’t say if he will sign federal six-week abortion ban

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) declined to say whether he would sign a federal six-week abortion ban during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday. 

“I’m pro-life. I will be a pro-life president. And we will support pro-life policies,” he said. “At the same time, I look at what’s going on in the Congress, and, you know, I don’t see them, you know, making very much headway. I think the danger from Congress is if we lose the election, they’re gonna try to nationalize abortion up until the moment of birth.”

Republicans up and down the ballot have struggled to address the issue as they work to appeal to their primary base while also keeping their eye on the broader electorate. 

In April, the Florida governor signed a six-week abortion ban in the state; however, the ban will take effect only if that state’s current 15-week ban is upheld in an ongoing legal challenge in front of the state Supreme Court.

DeSantis’s comments were the latest in which he dodged the question about whether he would sign a similar ban as president at the federal level. 

“Look, the Congress is probably not the place you want to put your hopes and dreams if you’re supporting pro-life,” he told Fox News’s Howard Kurtz on Sunday. “And so I think we’re going to really have a strong bottom up approach. We’re going to be working with states and localities to be able to advance the cause of life.”

DeSantis echoed those comments during a sitdown with conservative media personality Tucker Carlson on Friday. 

“I don’t think Rome is built in a day,” DeSantis told Carlson. “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 said.