DeSantis Avoids Another Flop In A Heartbeat?

Did DeSantis “Gamble on Abortion” by signing Fla’s new six-week “Heartbeat Law” or show GOP how to reassure suburban Indies who may dislike abortion yet demand that the law formally recognize a woman’s Choice?

Talk about a Catch 22 and/or no-win situation. Yet, as WSJ’s Kimberley Strassel has noted, “The GOP’s Abortion Flop” in last month’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election that saw a pro-abortion jurist win, “is the latest indication of the [GOP’s] need to find the sensible middle ground.” Without it, the columnist warns, Republicans can count on struggling with women voters in general & suburbanites specifically, many of whom would otherwise be voting FOR rather than AGAINST the party’s candidates. As the paper’s editors have earlier opined, its those suburban women who likely cost Mr. Trump most dearly in 2020.

Could Mr. DeSantis, then, have at least partially hit the compromise mark Kimberley is alluding to? National polls do suggest most voters want some kind of compromise on the law, if not its morality. As expected, DeSantis is being attacked by pro-choice folks for signing his state’s new restrictions on abortions, making it one of the most conservative. Yet, the state’s new heartbeat law undeniably RECOGNIZES, NO, LEGISLATIVELY CODIFIES a woman’s right to abortion. There was never any way for anyone to please everyone on this issue. Is DeSantis’ line in the sand stance, albeit a half-measure, going to be enough to pull into his orbit these Independent pro-choice women who do NOT like the “on demand at any time abortion” platform essentially adopted by the Democrats? If so, might Mr. Trump & other Republicans become more open to some kind of similar compromise position, thereby helping to avoid more electoral “flops”?

Davd Soul