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Governor DeSantis tells March for Life: Florida is ‘where woke goes to die’ and ‘babies go to live’ – LifeSite


WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis addressed the 52nd annual March for Life in the nation’s capital Friday, using his own experience to rebuke the conventional wisdom that fighting for the right to life is a political loser.

Taking the stage with his family beside him, DeSantis opened by calling out the hypocrisy of the left-wing New York Times acknowledging “unborn children” in the context of U.S. citizenship and the immigration debate but not when it comes to abortion.

“Let’s welcome The New York Times to the pro-life movement!” he joked. 

DeSantis then shifted to his main focus, arguing that the “sanctity of life does not depend on poll results, it does not depend on which way the winds are blowing,” but is rather a first principle, an unalienable right “endowed by our Creator” as acknowledged in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

He noted how left-wing activists “poured hundreds of millions of dollars into ballot initiatives” after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. This “swept the country in 2022” with pro-abortion victories.

This past year, “they put 120 million dollars” toward attempting the same thing in Florida with Amendment 4, which would have declared abortion a “right” in the Florida Constitution, and “the media was behind them 100 percent,” DeSantis said. Their victory would have led to 40,000 abortions a year in Florida and made the Sunshine State “an abortion epicenter” for the region.

However, recalling Edmund Burke’s famous quote that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” the governor declared that “we in Florida were not going to do nothing.” Their actions resulted in a win “most people thought would be impossible.”

To defeat the amendment, DeSantis launched a new PAC to fight it, investigated reported fraud used to collect the signatures that put it on the ballot, lobbied other Florida Republicans to speak up, had the state health department disseminate the real facts about both the current law and the amendment, and declared a statewide day of prayer for Florida’s pro-life protections.

Through this work, DeSantis told the crowd, they overcame a “blizzard of lies” about frightening healthcare implications the abortion lobby baselessly claimed Florida’s existing pro-life laws would cause, while the amendment’s supporters never never made the case why there should be elective abortions up to nine months.

“We were told since Dobbs … that standing for the right to life was somehow terrible politics,” DeSantis said, but “I’m living proof that that’s not true … and I can report to you now years later, not one single member of the Florida Legislature has been defeated for voting for Florida’s Heartbeat Protection Act.” In fact, he noted, Florida has gained 800,000 registered Republicans since the passage of the heartbeat law.

“Since we defeated Amendment 4, Florida’s not only the place where woke goes to die, it’s also the place where babies go to live,” DeSantis concluded.

READ: Newly freed pro-lifer John Hinshaw never doubted Trump’s promise to pardon him

The March for Life, originally launched a half-century ago to protest Roe v. Wade, entered its 52nd year amid a period of uncertainty. The overturn of Roe has given the pro-life movement an unprecedented opportunity to advance the cause, yet Republicans faced setbacks in the 2022 midterm elections and uncertainty about returning President Donald Trump’s more moderate position.

With the 2024 election delivering a strong rebuke of Democrats’ emphasis on abortion, it remains to be seen how exactly Republicans will pursue federal pro-life objectives in the new year. During his first week back in office, Trump has so far made two encouraging pro-life moves: shutting down a federal government “reproductive rights” web page and pardoning 23 peaceful pro-life activists who had been prosecuted by the Biden administration.

READ: Pardoned pro-lifer asks Trump now to end the American abortion holocaust


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