The leftist media are on fire: Ron DeSantis signed off on Florida’s new law limiting abortions to the first six weeks of pregnancy, and this will destroy him! They’re wrong, of course. Not only is the law out of Florida a more principled stand than that which South Carolina’s senators have bandied about (and that’s a sort of default for the squish middle), but it’s also irrelevant at the national level. We can thank the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health for the freedom just granted to DeSantis.

Although he did not have a public signing ceremony, DeSantis’s office announced earlier today that he did sign into law the Florida legislation prohibiting abortions after the fetus is six weeks old, which is when almost all fetuses develop a heartbeat. Leftist media outlets were ecstatic because they see this one act as the beginning of the end of DeSantis’s possible threat to Democrat dominance in 2024.

Business Insider says, “Ron DeSantis knows his 6-week abortion ban could come back to haunt him — that's why he's doing it under the radar.” Southern Florida’s SunSentinel falls back on those experts who can always be counted on for a pro-Democrat analysis: “DeSantis’ signing of abortion law could hurt his White House chances, experts say.” Newsweek also predicts DeSantis’s imminent political demise: “Ron DeSantis Abortion Law Might Be Fatal Error for His Presidential Chances.”

Image: Ron DeSantis by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.

But they’re all wrong (or at least, I think they are). The thing about DeSantis signing off on the abortion limitation law is that the legislature enacted it in the shadow of the Dobbs decision. That decision made it very clear that the federal government is shut out of the abortion debate. Abortion is purely a states’ rights issue. Congress no longer has a say about abortion in America.

What this means is that, when a leftist outlet thinks it’s going to hurt Ron DeSantis with pro-abortion voters by asking him about his willingness to sign off on the Florida abortion law, he has a ready-made response. What he could and should say is that his state is a perfect example of how the issue of abortion should be decided in a federalist system: Local communities—that is, the 50 states—get to pass laws that accord with local norms.

Furthermore, DeSantis should emphasize that, while he happens to agree with Florida’s new law, it is irrelevant to the presidential election. That’s because, as president, he has no say in the abortion issue. People who have strong feelings about abortion need to address it at the local level. As far as the presidency is concerned, there are other things that matter more.

Sen. Tim Scott allowed himself to get caught up in the non-existent federal abortion debate immediately after announcing that he had set up an exploratory committee to investigate whether he should run for president. (I’m guessing that the committee comes back with a “yes.”). A CBS news talking head instantly wanted his opinion on abortion, and Scott promptly equivocated, trying to appeal simultaneously to the evangelical voter and the middle-of-the-road voter:

GOP Sen. Tim Scott declines to say whether he supports Sen. Lindsey Graham's proposed 15-week federal abortion ban.@CHueyBurns: "If you were president, would you advocate for federal limits?"

Scott: "I'm 100% pro-life."

Huey-Burns: "So, yes?"

Scott: "That's not what I said." pic.twitter.com/SjXUP0gqIh

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 12, 2023

Did you get that? I’m pro-life, but I support killing babies up to 15 or 20 weeks. Now, everyone should be happy, right? Wrong. That position has a sneaky backdoor. 

As the CBS talking head said, this is also fellow South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham’s position. Both men, who are charming, intelligent, and more conservative than not, are being disingenuous and dishonest.

First, neither is acknowledging that, at the federal level, abortion is a non-starter because Dobbs moved it to the states. Second, and this is where both men should be ashamed of themselves for doing an end-run around credulous voters, their proposal supports just about every abortion in America.

According to the CDC, as of 2020, 93% of all abortions occurred at or before 13 weeks of gestation, with an additional 6% between 14 and 20 weeks. In other words, with his 20-weeks-would-work language, Tim Scott just gave the go-ahead to 99% or so of all abortions in America.

Under Florida’s law, abortion will still exist in the state; it will just be limited. Some could argue that, if DeSantis were really principled, he could have held out for a total ban. But Florida’s savvy governor clearly figured that the perfect is the enemy of the good and that the legislature’s vote reflected the political will of the Florida voters—which is exactly how federalism is supposed to work.