DeSantis pours Kerosine over his head and lights a match.

Nobody is a big "fan" of abortion, but Americans overwhelmingly favor providing women that choice (not Big Brother). For those of us who don't want the government unreasonably intruding in our lives, political bible thumpers represent another type of tyranny (as bad as the woke progressive left that wants to legislate what you can say, etc).

Almost all nations in the EU have reached a reasonable compromise on this subject, with abortion legal up to 16-20 weeks. Either the Republicans field a presidential candidate with an abortion policy that reflects our electorate's views or their going to get trounced in 2024, just like the midterms.

DeSantis’s Gamble on Abortion

A Florida ban after six weeks will echo through the 2024 campaign.

By The Editorial Board, WSJ

April 16, 2023 6:24 pm ET

Ron DeSantis’s decision to sign a new Florida law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy is a political gamble that Democrats are eager to attack. The Governor’s obligation now is to explain and defend it if he wants to win the White House.

Though Democrats will never admit it, the current abortion debate vindicates Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion in Dobbs last year overruling Roe v. Wade. “The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” he wrote. “Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”

He added earlier in his opinion that “we do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today’s decision.” Democrats predicted doom, but so far they are winning the post-Dobbs political debate in most places. The Court’s ruling was silent on abortion policy, and states as expected have gone in different directions.

The Florida law will now be one of the country’s most restrictive. The state had a 15-week ban, but abortion opponents deemed that too expansive since more than 90% of abortions occur before 15 weeks. But the new law amounts to a near-ban because at six weeks many women may not know they are pregnant.

The law has restrictions for rape, incest and human-trafficking pregnancies up to 15 weeks. It also has an exception if the life of the mother is endangered. Drugs that induce abortions would have to be dispensed in person, not by mail. Democrats will portray this as a blanket ban, and every poll of public opinion says voters oppose a ban even as they support some abortion restrictions.

Florida Republicans deserve to be taken at their word that their opposition to abortion is a matter of moral conviction. The bill passed the Florida House 70-40, so it wasn’t close. Mr. DeSantis could have tried to maneuver his Legislature to make the law less restrictive, perhaps by lowering the 15-week ban to 10. He didn’t, so presumably he also supports the ban out of personal belief. This is admirable in our age of political cynicism.

But if Mr. DeSantis runs for President, he will have to defend the law on the national stage. He will thus be presented with the challenge facing any political figure who believes in the morality of a cause that is unpopular.

Mr. DeSantis may figure the six-week ban will help him in the GOP primaries against other candidates competing for the votes of social conservatives. He might be right. But GOP donor Thomas Peterffy has said his support for Mr. DeSantis is on hold because of the abortion law and other social positions.

Donald Trump has also been notably silent about abortion since Dobbs, and his advisers are telling reporters that Mr. Trump thinks the issue is a loser for Republicans. The aides are also quietly spinning that Florida’s six-week ban makes Mr. DeSantis less electable in the general election against a Democrat. Mr. Trump may figure that since he appointed the Justices who overturned Roe, he can now run to the left of Mr. DeSantis on abortion.

Like Justice Alito, we don’t pretend to know how this debate will turn out in 2024. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a six-week ban after Dobbs and easily won re-election last year. Abortion is merely one issue among many that voters will consider as they measure the candidates. But one certainty is that Mr. DeSantis will be asked about the six-week ban again and again. The press is largely pro-abortion and believes the issue will hurt Republicans, so it will come up in every debate.

Mr. DeSantis could say the issue should be settled at the state level, and that Florida’s law shouldn’t dictate to Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. That works for us, but you can expect other candidates to challenge that as insufficient. Mr. DeSantis will have to defend the six-week ban in any case. Now that the abortion die is cast, Mr. DeSantis’s presidential chances may hang on how well he defends the law just signed.