this is Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede.
>>Welcome to Facing South Florida.
I'm Jim DeFede.
And following the week of the Supreme Court decision
that shows the court is about
to strike down Roe versus Wade,
I found myself trying to decide
if I was shocked by the justices obliterating
a 50 year old precedent, or if I kind of expected it
because the religious right has been
so single-minded on abortion,
that they look past everything they supposedly loathe
about Donald Trump, because they knew
he would appoint justices who would take away
a woman's right to control her own body.
Three of the five votes to overturn Roe
were from Trump appointees.
Now elections have consequences, the saying goes,
and while Democrats argued and feuded
among themselves in 2016 about
whether they liked Hillary Clinton enough to vote for her,
Republicans were marching in lockstep to this very day.
And so here we are.
Does this reshape the upcoming elections?
I'm not sure, but we will soon see.
I spoke this week with State Senator Lauren Book
and asked her for her reaction
to the court's pending decision.
>>This is a really terribly sad and dangerous day
for women all across our country
And here in the state of Florida.
You and I have been talking, Jim,
for a long time about the fact
that we were looking at a post-Roe world
and marching towards that place, and here we are.
And let's make no mistake about it.
That's where we're going to be.
In the state of Florida, obviously we know
and we've talked a lot about the abortion ban
that has come down, that will take effect July the first.
And so that your viewers know, again, July the first,
you will not be able to seek an abortion past 15 weeks
unless there is a fatal fetal abnormality.
And again, as we've discussed, no exemption
for rape, incest, or victims of human trafficking,
which I know that we've talked a lot about too,
the face of the Republican party
and the types of policies that they are putting forward.
And this is a very dangerous day
and I am under no illusion that this
is where this is gonna stop.
>>Do you think it's possible that the governor
may even call another special session
just to put on the record a complete ban on abortion?
>>I would not put it past him
and nothing at this point would surprise me.
We know that the House sponsor of the bill,
as well as the Senate sponsor, and leadership in both bodies
have talked about the fact and bemoaned the fact
that it was only a 15 week ban,
that it was a moderate ban on abortion.
And we all know that there is no moderate ban on abortion,
particularly when there are no exemptions
for rape, incest, and survivors of human trafficking.
But they have talked very openly about
a six or eight week abortion ban.
And that is a wish and a desire in both chambers
and quite frankly on the Plaza level.
And so I am, I am gearing up for what that is,
but I think it's important,
and we've talked a lot today to Planned Parenthood,
constituents, and allied organizations,
and it's important for your viewers to know
that if they have appointments at a Planned Parenthood
or reproductive healthcare center
throughout the state of Florida or in south Florida,
keep your appointments, call if you have questions.
Nothing today is going to stop your ability to seek care.
And that is a really important thing.
There are 13 states in the country
that have these trigger bans that once this decision,
if it does come down, would stop all of the abortions
that are, that follow the law in each of those states.
Florida is not one of those,
but that law would become the law of the land
on that July 1st date if this decision comes down.
>>How much of this is going to change
the political landscape in terms of
the elections that are gonna be held six months from now,
both at the state and federal level?
>>You know, I think that when we've polled this issue,
particularly, and I focus on this issue because it is,
you know, something that I've experienced
as a survivor of sexual assault,
77% of individuals across the state,
Republican, NPAs, and Democrats believe
that there should be an exemption
for rape, incest, and survivors of human trafficking.
This is a not a winning issue.
However, I do believe that because we've got the house,
the Senate under complete Republican control,
with a governor who has ambitions to run for higher office
and pushing and pushing more to the right each and every day
with that predominant belief of because we can,
this is something that, that we have found and seen,
that they are going to continue to push.
But I do believe that there will be a day
of reckoning where people say enough is enough.
This is too far.
Certainly it has galvanized a tremendous amount of support.
In our communities, we're seeing all throughout the week
where we have had different gatherings, rallies, marches
to try to combat some of the things that are are happening
and for people to pay attention to this issue.
I do think that this is one of those sea change moments
where you have daughters, you have granddaughters,
wives, mothers.
This is not just about the, you know,
an abortion conversation of yesteryear.
This is you are taking away a survivor's right.
And like, what is the face of the Republican party today?
You have covered extensively one of the members
of the Florida Senate who has openly talked about the fact
that we are doing a favor, if you will,
to survivors and victims of human trafficking
by disallowing them to seek an abortion
at that point from a Planned Parenthood
because we make them less marketable to their clientele
and their pimps won't use them in that way.
This is the face of the Republican Party in 2022.
>>You're talking about the race that is now shaping up
between state representative, Michael Greco, the Democrat,
who supports reproductive rights and Ileana Garcia,
the state, the current state Senator
who has said she would support an outright ban on abortion.
Do you think that this immediately recast that race
into an issue predominantly about this, about abortion?
>>I think that this casts a very large shadow and becomes,
and sucks a lot of the air out of of the room if it were.
And I also believe--
>>Not gonna, in other words,
we're done talking about critical race theory
or math textbooks and, and all the sort of games
that the Republicans did during the session
that was good for their base.
This is an issue now that really cuts to the heart
that, that moderate Republicans, Independents and Democrats
should be able to galvanize around.
>>I believe that to be the case and particularly with
this conversation and this member in particular
and if you go back and you listen to
and you watch the debate on the floor.
Senator Garcia talked a lot about and compared
back alley abortions to getting plastic surgery
in a parking garage.
Let's not make a mistake about what's happening here.
Abortions have always existed.
They have always existed and they always will exist.
It's will they be safe and who will have access to them?
She compared it to some sort of a strange plastic surgery
in a parking garage, while then also talking
about survivors of human trafficking.
At the end of the day,
you are taking away not only a woman's right to choose,
whether that's because there is an intended pregnancy
and they find out past the 15 weeks
that there was some sort of a fetal abnormality
or it doesn't fit into somebody's life
for whatever reason she decides that it doesn't,
you're talking about and continuing on a path of,
if you've been raped, if you've been sexually assaulted,
if you're a victim of human trafficking,
if you haven't made that decision by 15 weeks,
forget you, move on, too bad, so sad.
That is, I believe and the numbers show
not where Floridians are.
That's not where people are across the country.
>>Have you gotten any indication
as to whether or not the Florida Constitution
may give greater protection for privacy rights
that would allow abortion to continue in Florida?
Because the US Supreme Court seems to be in its decision
saying privacy is not a valid enough reason
from the constitutional standpoint
to uphold Roe versus Wade
Does the Florida Constitution offer greater protection?
>>Unfortunately it does not.
And we know that the ACLU has moved forward with a lawsuit.
And again, I am not an attorney.
However, we do know that it will not provide
that level of protection,
and so the 15 week ban will be the law of the land.
And there's not much more
that a woman could do at that point.
>>Well, let's also, let's also talk
about the possible ramifications of
what this decision will mean in a broader sense
because if the US Supreme Court now
is going to strike down the notion of privacy
as being a legitimate reason for having an abortion,
if you remove privacy out of the picture,
privacy was also the basis for the Obergefell decision
in 2015, which legalized gay marriage,
the 2000 or the 1967 decision Loving versus Virginia,
which allowed interracial marriages.
That was based on privacy.
And 1965, there was a decision
that allowed families and husband and wives
to make decisions about contraception,
even the basics of contraception was based on privacy.
Could you, is it possible that we could see
some of those other rights now under attack
whether it's gay marriage, the rights of contraception,
interracial marriage, if those are all based
on privacy rights that the US Supreme court
says are no longer valid, then are those at risk?
>>I believe it is all at risk.
And again, I am not an attorney,
but what I would suggest to you is,
and we alluded to it a minute ago, you do get,
elections have consequences, right?
And the governor has made it no secret
that he wants the judges he wants to uphold
and do what he chooses to do, whether it's, you know,
all the way across the board.
At the end of the day, I do believe that all of those,
all of those things are at risk.
And this is, these are those high stakes
that we've been talking about.
I mean, again, sometimes people make it sound like
these are talking points to get people frenzied
before elections or for fundraising.
This is where we are.
There is no room for games and no margin for error.