‘Fight tooth and nail’: Ashley Moody’s Democratic challengers vow to protect abortion rights

Aramis Ayala and Daniel Uhlfelder have ground to make up against Ashley Moody.

Two of the three Democratic Primary candidates in the 2022 race for Attorney General issued statements Friday in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling ending federally protected abortion.

The decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization protected Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban (the model for Florida’s law) and also overturned Roe v. Wade. Both Aramis Ayala and Daniel Uhlfelder pledged to use their office to protect women’s reproductive rights in the wake of this ruling.

“As Attorney General, I will fight tooth and nail to protect women’s rights and access to safe abortions. I will never prosecute a woman for her choice to terminate her pregnancy, or a doctor who tries to provide her with care,” Ayala contended.

A former State Attorney from the Orlando area, Ayala also condemned the Florida abortion law, saying it was evidence of an “extremist agenda” at the expense of children themselves.

“Florida’s abortion ban, which included zero exceptions, brought back the faces of the children whose rights I defended as a sex crimes prosecutor. It pains me to think of those who will be forced to carry pregnancies resulting from rape or incest because the Republican-controlled state government cares more about their extremist agenda than the well-being of our children,” Ayala asserted.

Uhlfelder, a lawyer from Santa Rosa Beach, was likewise direct in his rhetoric, suggesting the AG could be a “firewall” against bad law.

“When the draft decision leaked in May, I made my stance clear without any hesitation: I will never investigate nor prosecute someone for getting or providing an abortion. If Florida passes a total abortion ban, I will use every power as Attorney General to refuse to enforce it,” Uhlfelder asserted.

“The Supreme Court made the wrong decision. Congress failed to protect us. Now, this fight comes to the states. The Attorney General can be a firewall to prevent the enforcement of any ban. If I am Attorney General, I will do everything I can to keep women and doctors safe,” he added.