Democrats hope to win Florida by legalizing abortion

Thousands of reproductive rights advocates rallied April 13 in Florida to support a referendum that would include abortion protections in the state constitution. Democrats hope this will increase their chances of winning this southern state in November's presidential election, US News reported.
Activists in Arizona have announced an April 14 rally in Scottsdale to protest the state Supreme Court's April 9 decision that reinstates a 160-year-old ban on abortion.
Events over the weekend once again pushed abortion to the fore in the presidential campaign between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Arizona is likely to be a swing state in November, and the state will also host one of the most contested US Senate races.
The abortion issue has dogged Republicans since 2022, when a conservative majority on the US Supreme Court, including three Trump appointees, struck down abortion rights nationwide.
This week, Democrats immediately took advantage of a court ruling that found the nearly complete 1864 ban must replace the 15-week limit that Republican state lawmakers passed in 2022. The Biden campaign sent Vice President Kamala Harris to Arizona on 12 April, where she said Trump was responsible for the decision.
The former president tried to distance himself from the ruling, saying the court went too far and called on the Republican-controlled Legislature to repeal the 1864 ban. But Republican leaders blocked Democratic efforts to do so on April 10, noting , that the law won't go into effect for weeks and said they don't want to rush it.
At the April 13 rally in Orlando, speaker after speaker offered emotional accounts of their abortion experiences.
Derrick Cook, a Florida resident, described how his wife finally became pregnant after suffering multiple miscarriages. But a complication at 16 weeks meant her fetus would not survive and threatened her life. A few weeks earlier, Florida had limited abortions to 15 weeks.
"The doctor told us there was nothing he could do to help because of the ban," Cook said, even though the law allows abortions when the mother's life is in danger.
Cook's wife, Anya, gave birth in a hair salon the next day and nearly died in the hospital from blood loss, he said.
The story, which Cook has shared publicly before, was reminiscent of the impactful ad the Biden campaign began airing this week that featured a Texas woman who nearly died after being denied an abortion and blamed Trump.
Most state bans, including Arizona's, contain exceptions to protect the life of the mother. But reproductive rights advocates say doctors are reluctant to try these exceptions in cases that aren't clearly emergencies.
Earlier this month, the Florida state Supreme Court allowed the 6-week abortion ban to go into effect on May 1. Although Florida voted Republican in the last election, Biden's campaign claims abortion put the state back in the game in November./BGNES