Biden puts Trump on trial in Florida over state's six-week abortion ban

TAMPA, Fla. - Working to lasso back into play a state that for years has drifted further right and keep abortion at the center of the 2024 White House debate, President Joe Biden visited Florida on Tuesday to tie his Republican rival Donald Trump to a new state law outlawing abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.

With Trump on trial in a criminal case in New York City and limited from campaigning, Biden traveled to the former president’s home state to keep the political pressure on.

“In America today in 2024 women have fewer rights than their mothers and their grandmothers had because of Donald Trump," the incumbent Democratic president said of his GOP opponent this November in remarks before about 200 supporters in a gymnasium at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa.

Florida presents an opportunity for Biden to try and gain ground in a state that has been trending red ever since President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection. Polls still show Biden well behind, but the incumbent's campaign has been working hard to link Trump to a GOP abortion law that critics view as too extreme.

“I think Florida is in play, nationally," Biden said during a reception with supporters in a nearby cafeteria after his remarks.

As he prepared to launch his own presidential campaign last year and take on Trump in the GOP primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure outlawing abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is around six weeks of pregnancy. The law takes effect May 1.

“Next week one of the nation’s most extreme anti-abortion laws will take effect here in Florida," Biden told the Tampa crowd on a stage flanked by big blue and white signs reading "reproductive freedom."

DeSantis used the law to try and make inroads with Evangelical voters in Iowa, a move that helped him come in second there but still not enough to last long in the 2024 Republican primaries. Trump was skeptical of the legislation from the start, calling it a "terrible mistake."

The former president has since come out against a national abortion ban, saying the issue should be left up to the states, even as he brags that he "broke" Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that for nearly 50 years had protected abortion rights until it was overturned in 2022 by a court reshaped by Trump.

Arizona and Florida rulings upend 2024

Trump’s position leaves him vulnerable to criticism that he is tactically encouraging extreme laws in many states.

The issue exploded this month when the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a near total ban on abortions that was passed in 1864.

Trump says he opposes the Arizona law. He also could face pressure on the Florida law, especially considering it is a state he calls home and where he will cast a ballot in November.

Trump said earlier this month during an event at Mar-a-Lago, his private Palm Beach property, that when it comes to abortion “We did something that nobody thought was possible, we gave it back to the states. And the states are working very brilliantly." Biden seized on those words Tuesday.

“It’s a six-week ban in Florida, it’s really brilliant, isn’t it?" Biden said during the 12-minute speech. "Even before women know they’re pregnant. Is that brilliant?”

Biden also warned that “broader rights of privacy for everyone” such as protections for same sex marriage and birth control could be at risk after Roe was overturned, referencing the writings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement that Biden's abortion views are "radical" and "wildly out of touch with most Americans."

"But that will not stop him from pitching it to Florida voters. Biden must have forgotten that thousands of Americans have fled from extremist Democrat policies to prosperous and pro-life states like Florida," Whatley said.

Other critics said Biden should focus on economic issues.

Americans for Prosperity-Florida state director Skylar Zander said in a statement that Biden should "address his poor economic approach and the adverse effects of his ‘Bidenomics’ economic policies on both the city and the state."

Florida will have a constitutional amendment on the ballot this year protecting abortion rights. It would overturn the law DeSantis signed and allow an abortion up to the point of fetal viability, generally around 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Biden noted there has been a backlash in many states to Roe being overturned, with voters approving measures to protect abortion rights. Florida will soon follow, he said.

“States all over this country from Ohio, Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Virginia — women and men of every background voted in record numbers to protect reproductive freedom," Biden said. "This November you can add Florida to that list."

"Are you ready to do that?" the president added as the crowd cheered. "You gotta show up and vote!”

A USA TODAY/Ipsos survey found that 57% of registered voters in Florida support the constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, which needs 60% support to pass, and 36% oppose, while 6% are undecided.

The survey also found that 55% of Floridians oppose banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy nationally.

Biden's campaign is trying to make Florida's new abortion law an issue in other swing states, noting in a campaign memo that Georgia and North Carolina also have restrictive abortion laws, and that Florida acted as an abortion haven for residents throughout the Southeast.

"When Florida’s ban takes effect, it will severely restrict reproductive health care access across the entire Southeastern United States, including neighboring battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina," Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in a memo released Tuesday, adding: "Many women in the Southeast desperately in need of care will have to drive for a day or more to reach the closest clinic."

The Biden campaign is pledging to keep abortion "front and center" in the election.

"Trump is hoping that Americans will somehow forget that he’s responsible for the horror women are facing in this country every single day because of him. It’s a bad bet," Rodriguez wrote.

Sunshine State steep climb

While Biden may have an advantage on the abortion issue, he still faces a steep climb in Florida. The USA TODAY/Ipsos survey found him trailing Trump by eight percentage points.

Florida's reputation as the nation's largest swing state increasingly has seemed outdated.

Trump won Florida in 2016 by just a single percentage point, but won the state by three points in 2020 and DeSantis won reelection by 19 percentage points in 2022.

Florida Republicans surpassed Democrats in voter registration in 2021 and have continued to increase their advantage. There are now 851,000 more Republican voters in the state than Democrats.

“We take Florida very seriously,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign communications director, said in a call on Monday with reporters. “The idea that Donald Trump has the state in the bag could not be further from the truth.”

Regardless of whether he can win Florida, Biden could use the state as a foil for his campaign, highlighting conservative policies pushed by DeSantis.

Gaza protests follow Biden to Florida

Anti-abortion activists and pro-Palestine activists held demonstrations outside Biden's event.

Tampa resident Ali Abdel-Qader, 24, with the Party for Socialism and Liberation helped organize a group of about 75 protesters who criticized Israel’s war in Gaza and accused the president of being complicit in “genocide.”

“We are not going to be voting for you Joe in November because you are supporting a genocide,” Abdel-Qadar said.

The crowd waved Palestinian flags, held signs reading “ceasefire now!” and “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” and chanted “Biden, Biden you can’t hide. You’re supporting genocide.”

White House correspondent Joey Garrison contributed to this report

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden jabs Trump on restrictive abortion law in Florida