Thank You, Gov. DeSantis | CPT PPP Coverage

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EDITORIAL: Florida’s competent and courageous governor served as a decisive force in defense of the sanctity of life.

The defeat of Amendment 4 in Florida on Nov. 5 proves that the pro-abortion lobby isn’t invincible, even when it outspends the opposition 10 to 1 — provided that political leaders articulate a sincere, coherent case for life, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did.

The stakes there for the pro-life movement were enormous, after seven straight state abortion ballot losses in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. DeSantis himself went so far as to say the amendment’s passage would have meant “the end of the pro-life movement.” 

That wasn’t much of an overstatement, given Florida’s thankfully steep 60% threshold for passage of the amendment and the reality that DeSantis’ Republican Party is moving in another direction nationally on the pro-life issue. Disappointingly, when asked how as a Florida resident he had voted on the amendment, Donald Trump’s response was “Just stop talking about that,” The Washington Post reported. 

DeSantis could have just gone through the motions, given the president-elect’s mixed signals on the ballot measure. Instead, he went above and beyond to fight the amendment, barnstorming the state and using the state’s health-care website to warn that the amendment was dangerous to women, which it was. 

“Florida showed that you could persuade voters with truth and reason, educating them on the dangers of Amendment 4, and revealing its motives to undermine the American family,” said Taryn Fenske, a spokeswoman for Vote No on 4, according to the Post. “Floridians’ commonsense, family-focused values prevailed.”

DeSantis also wasn’t shy about communicating his alliance with fellow Catholics on the issue, standing in solidarity alongside of Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski at an anti-Amendment 4 event held at the Little Flower School in Coral Gables two weeks ahead of the vote.

Overall, this has been a roller coaster year for the Florida governor, who suffered a bitter defeat in the GOP primary but rallied to competently lead his state through a pair of devastating hurricanes. His competency as a leader and manager was on display again on Election Night. Not only did he rack up important wins in the abortion ballot measure and in a misguided legalized marijuana ballot measure, which also was opposed by local Church leaders, but the Sunshine State put other states to shame with its lightning-fast election returns. 

It’s important to note there were two other state pro-life ballot measure successes. 

In Nebraska, voters supported a measure to enshrine the state’s existing 12-week ban in the state Constitution, and in South Dakota, voters rejected a measure to overturn the state’s current ban on all abortions except when the mother’s life is threatened. Alongside the Florida result, this is heartening evidence that it’s possible to push back successfully against the abortion lobby, despite the massive imbalance it has enjoyed in terms of monetary and media support in all the post-Dobbs ballot measures.

At the same time, abortion-rights measures succeeded in the other seven states where they were on the ballot, including in the relatively pro-life jurisdictions of Missouri and Arizona. These destructive outcomes serve as a painful reminder that the national picture remains highly problematic for pro-lifers at this political moment.

That’s even more reason for Catholics across the nation to collectively applaud Gov. DeSantis’ efforts. The positive outcome in Florida dramatically affirms that when it comes to defending unborn babies, the engagement of a competent and courageous political leader can be a decisive force for good.