FLORIDA — Political leaders in Florida — including Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's U.S. senators and members of Congress —reacted swiftly and strongly, mostly along party lines, to the Supreme Court's decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In an email statement, Republican Sen. Rick Scott praised the decision as overdue.

"The importance of today's decision by the Supreme Court cannot be overstated," the statement said. "For nearly 50 years, our country endured flawed legal reasoning that invented an implied constitutional right to abortion while stripping authority from lawmakers according to the will of the people. Today, the Court correctly interpreted the Constitution, defended human dignity and the foundational principle of federalism, and rightly declared that there is no constitutional right to end the life of an unborn child.

"I firmly believe that life begins at conception and that every child deserves to be welcomed into this world with open and loving arms. Abortion ends a life. It is abhorrent and has no place in our society. While we celebrate the Court's latest ruling, the fight to protect the sanctity of life is not over. Lawmakers and the pro-life movement have the responsibility to make adoption more accessible and affordable, and do everything in our power to meet the needs of struggling women and their families so they can choose life. We cannot stop fighting until every life, born and unborn, is valued."

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who is running for re-election, agreed with the ruling but said some support for the mothers needs to be put in place.

One of the Democratic candidates running to unseat Rubio, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, vowed to fight the decision.

 

Other members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida took to Twitter, too.

Politicians who could have a role in setting Florida's abortion policy in the future also weighed in.

DeSantis called the decision a "proper interpretation of the Constitution."

The candidates who are seeking the Democratic nomination to try to unseat DeSantis as governor disagree with him.

Crist is also a past governor of Florida.

Nikki Fried, the Florida Agriculture secretary who is the only Democrat in Florida's Cabinet and also is running for governor, said Floridians can have a say in what happens long term.

State legislative leaders:

State Sen. Kelli Stargel of Lakeland heralded the ruling.

“Protecting the innocent children whose lives are ended through abortion was a defining issue for me as I made the decision to run for elected office," the statement said. "Today is a wonderful affirmation of the pro-life efforts of so many over the last 50 years, and I am incredibly grateful to the justices for their courage in speaking the truth in the face of tremendous adversity.

“The so-called ‘right’ to murder an unborn child was entirely invented by the Roe decision and affirmed in the Casey decision, both of which were wrong from the start. Not only is abortion never mentioned in our Constitution, the opinion explains in great detail that history does not in any way support the pro-abortion lie that the ‘right’ to kill an unborn child is a liberty rooted in the history of this country or the common law. To the contrary, historical facts and writings cited by the court as well as modern scientific realities unequivocally support the fact that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life and a barbaric practice that has been repudiated throughout history.

“The damage Roe has caused this country is profound. Unfortunately, laws and legal opinions cannot change hearts and minds influenced by decades of an anti-life culture. While we recognize the loss of 63 million innocent and irreplaceable children, we must also accept that the permissible killing of unborn children over three generations has caused serious damage to the social fabric of this country."

 

State legal leaders made their opinions known as well.

Andrew Warren, the state attorney in Hillsborough County, said on Twitter, "Roe falls but Florida law must stand.

"It's nonsensical for SCOTUS to overturn Roe on textualist basis — looking only at words on the page without drawing any reasonable inferences — but then for Fla Sup Ct to ignore the words on the page & infer meaning directly contrary to them."

Planned Parenthood leaders throughout Florida also vowed to continue the fight to allow access to abortions.

"By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has now officially given politicians across the country the power to control what people can do with their own bodies," Stephanie Fraim, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said in a statement. "This means millions of Americans will no longer be trusted to determine the course of their own lives. This dangerous and chilling decision will have devastating consequences across the southeast and beyond, forcing people who can afford it to travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles for abortion care in Florida and other states where at least some access is still protected. This ruling eliminates the federal constitutional right to privacy around abortion, but the Florida state constitution still protects that right. The Florida 15-week abortion ban, which will go into effect July 1st, is clearly unconstitutional, which is why Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and other plaintiffs are suing to stop it. We will not sit idly by while our freedoms are stripped away like this -- we will not stop fighting for our rights."

Alexandra Mandado, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida, also issued a statement.

"It is a dark day for our country, but this is far from over," her statement said. "We will not compromise on our bodies, our dignity, or our freedom. Floridians should know that Planned Parenthood will always fight for you, and we will not back down. Today, abortion is still safe and legal in Florida. But make no mistake — this decision goes beyond abortion. This is about who has power over you, who has the authority to make decisions for you, and who can control how your future is going to be. Together, we will rebuild and reclaim our freedom.

The Supreme Court's decision flies in the face of American popular opinion. Abortion bans and restrictions are deeply unpopular, with a Washington Post-ABC poll finding that 75% of people want decisions on abortion left to the woman and her doctor, including 95% of Democrats, 81% of independents and 53% of Republicans. A Gallup poll finds that 80% of the American public think abortion should be legal. A poll conducted by the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab after HB 5 was passed found that 60-percent of registered voters in Florida oppose even the 15-week abortion ban, much less an all out ban."