Roe V Wade Draft Decision Evokes Reactions From DeSantis, Fried

TAMPA, FL — In response to Monday's leaked SCOTUS draft opinion striking down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision allowing women to obtain abortions, pro-choice advocates throughout Florida hosted rallies around the state Tuesday and pledge more to come.

Organized by the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, the rallies are the result of the leak of a draft majority opinion written by U.S Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the Supreme Court.

The draft opinion calls for the repeal of the Jan. 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights. In the draft opinion, Alito called the Supreme Court decision "egregiously wrong."

Among those reacting to Monday's news was Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, a Democrat running for Florida governor, who attended a Planned Parenthood rally earlier Tuesday in Miami.

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"Last night we saw a weak opinion from Judge Alito who made no bones about the fact that he's going to spend his career going after Roe v. Wade," Fried said. "That's why we gather here today, to speak up, to have our voices heard. For 50 years, women in our country have had the right to safe reproductive health."

She urged pro-choice advocates to stand united and speak up for those who can't speak, women like her own grandmother who was forced to travel to Cuba to obtain an abortion because they were illegal in the United States at the time.

"Every month after that for the rest of her life, she suffered because of the inhumane conditions" of the back-alley clinic she was forced to use, Fried said.

The draft decision from the U.S. Supreme Court comes just weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks gestation.

Florida follows Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma in passing bills restricting abortion rights during this legislative session.

Republican lawmakers in West Virginia and Arizona have proposed similar legislation.

When asked about the leaked draft at a news conference Tuesday, DeSantis admitted to being a bit surprised. He said he's been preparing for state constitutional and statutory challenges to the new Florida law when it takes effect July 1, and said he's not sure how the Supreme Court draft decision will impact the Florida law.

"We'll see what happens with this opinion," he said. "It was really weird that this came out. I don't know what the agenda is behind it."

He said he thinks society is moving toward more restrictive abortion laws, however.

"I'm somebody who believes in pro-life protections. It's something based in science. I think it's something that's safe, and it's who we are as a society," he said. "If you take a look at Europe, it shows just how out of step the United States has been and really how radical the jurisprudence has been compared to a lot of industrialized countries. The U.S. is more in line with countries like China and North Korea (when it comes to abortion rights)."