Republicans Turn On DeSantis Over New Decision

Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

On Thursday Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban into law which has led to a lot of criticism from other Republicans.

DeSantis is widely considered to be one of the leading contenders in the 2024 GOP primary race despite the fact that he has not yet announced his intention to run. On Thursday he signed the controversial bill which had previously passed through the Republican-dominated Florida legislature. The bill, SB 300 or the “Heartbeat Protection Act,” includes some exceptions to the ban in the case of rape or incest. If one of those exceptions applies then women are able to get an abortion up to 15 weeks. In order to get the exemption, they need to provide a restraining order or a police report.

NBC News has claimed that the new bill does not make any changes to the existing exemption which allows abortions in cases where the health and life of the mother are at risk.

On Saturday, Peterffy, a Hungarian-born American billionaire and the founder and chairman of Interactive Brokers, a digital trading platform., while speaking with the Financial Times stated that he has “put me on hold” regarding possibly funding DeSantis’ presidential bid. This is because of his “stance on abortion and book banning.”

Last year, Peterffy donated more than 7 million dollars towards Republican campaigns.

On Thursday, the governor signed the legislation which is contributing to the greater debate about abortion access that has become more prevalent following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court last summer.