Gabrielle Russon
Gov. Ron DeSantis recruited former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Tony Dungy to join him at a rally targeting the Amendment 4 abortion rights initiative.
“It’s personal, because I happen to believe that these babies in the womb are lives,” said Dungy at the press conference at Clearwater Central High School “I know everybody doesn’t believe that, but I happen to believe it. My Bible tells me that they are. … Yes, we need to protect our mothers, but we need to protect those children as well.”
Dungy, who is the first Black NFL coach to win the Super Bowl, has made headlines for his conservative views and his Christian faith.
“I am so upset when people say, ‘Oh, we need to get this passed, because women in Florida are in danger when they’re pregnant,’” Dungy said. “No, they’re not in danger when they’re pregnant. … We have some of the best health care in the world here.”
However, data shows that the United States has a high maternal death rate compared to other developed countries.
“In 2022 there were approximately 22 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the United States — far above rates for other high-income countries,” according to the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation studying health care issues.
Dungy spoke of his convictions to a supportive crowd and said he and his wife are the adoptive parents of eight children at home.
“My eight kids are not old enough to vote yet, but I promise you, if they could, they’d be voting ‘no,’” Dungy said.
Dungy joined DeSantis during a stop for a statewide tour to message against Amendment 4. DeSantis continues to blur lines, using his power as Governor and state resources to campaign against Amendment 4, which seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
DeSantis signed legislation that bans abortion after six weeks in most cases and allows exceptions for up to 15 weeks for rape, incest and sexual trafficking victims if they get a police report or medical report to document the crimes against them.
But a citizen-led effort collected signatures to get the abortion rights initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot. The proposed constitutional amendment would limit government interference on abortion before viability — which is considered about 24 weeks — or to save the mother’s life.
The ballot question also says, “This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
DeSantis, who has been stumping against Amendment 4 for weeks, reiterated many stances he has said publicly.
He argued the amendment is written vaguely and claimed it will remove parental consent, as well as make Florida a destination in the South for women to get the medical procedures. He also accused Floridians Protecting Freedom, the political committee supporting Amendment 4, of lying that Florida’s exceptions don’t protect the mother’s life.
“Most of what they’re doing on Amendment 4 is just basically spewing lies about the state of Florida,” DeSantis argued Tuesday. “Six months, you can have an unborn child, fully formed, beating heart, can feel pain, and they can be aborted. And when you’re at that stage, it’s a dismemberment procedure. … How is that something that should be in the Constitution of the state of Florida?”
But reproductive rights advocates argue Florida’s abortion ban is one of the strictest in the country and many women don’t even know they are pregnant at six weeks. For late-term abortions, some women are forced to carry nonviable pregnancies under the ban or are getting turned away from medical providers who are scared that the state’s exceptions are murky, doctors have said.
DeSantis attacked the doctors supporting Amendment 4 Tuesday, saying they should be sued or lose their medical license if they aren’t treating patients.
“If they are in a situation where a mother has a miscarriage and they say you can’t get treated for it — that’s a lie. So you’re either too incompetent to be a doctor because you can’t read, which case you should lose your medical license,” DeSantis said. “Or you’re putting your political agenda ahead of the health of your patients, in which case you should not be a doctor in the state of Florida.”
13 comments
A day without Libturds
October 29, 2024 at 3:23 pm
Libturds are indeed animals that only think from the waist down. They lack the capacity to control their glands and cannot even figure out how to use contraceptives. So morally bankrupt they think abortion is a right. Democrats are trash.
My body my choice
October 30, 2024 at 12:21 am
Men have no place in making healthcare decisions for any woman. You are not in charge of our bodies. How about we start a petition that all men over 18 need to be castrated to prevent unwanted pregnancies before our precious lives are conceived.
Let Me Be Clear
October 29, 2024 at 3:26 pm
Tony Dungy wil be called an Uncle Tom in 3, 2, 1.
A day without Libturds
October 29, 2024 at 3:43 pm
The racist democrats called Tim Scott uncle Tim.
MarvinM
October 29, 2024 at 3:59 pm
Why is the governor using taxpayer money to campaign against a citizen initiative?
He can have his own opinion, but he should not be elevating his opinion or amplifying it with money or any cache the office of governorship affords him.
Just makes me want to vote for amendments 3 and 4 even more than I already did.
YES on 3
YES on 4
NO on Francis
NO on Sasso
Let Me Be Clear
October 29, 2024 at 4:44 pm
No matter the cost of amendment 4? Yes on Francis and Sasso by the way.
Paul
October 29, 2024 at 8:20 pm
How much state money is DeSantis spending on advertising and outside law firms to defeat this citizen initiative?
MH/Duuuval
October 30, 2024 at 5:41 pm
Pushaw!
SallyB
October 30, 2024 at 1:48 am
They are not citizen initiatives. Rather, they are funded by out-of-state players and, in one particular instance, foreign interests to the tune of more than $100 million. Ask yourself why out-of-state and foreign interests want to change the Constitution of the State of Florida to the tune of more than $100 million and counting (as of today, more than $140 million)? Philanthropy? Please … money and returns on their investments. Thank you, Coach Dungy. Leftwing activists are likely to advocate for his removal from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Nothing like erasing history for the disciples of postmodernism (aka neo-Marxism).
SallyB
October 30, 2024 at 2:01 am
I was perusing financial disclosure reports, and I found a second foreign interest. So, there are at least two (2) foreign interests involved with these efforts to ratify these very dangerous constitutional amendments — Canada and Switzerland — to the tune of more than $140 million and counting (because these financial disclosure reports are lagging indicators of money already spent.
MH/Duuuval
October 30, 2024 at 5:53 pm
Canada and Switzerland?
Wow, not the usual suspects like Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea?
Oh, wait, they have autocrats there, too.
Bonnie J Hamilton
October 30, 2024 at 3:31 pm
Love you Coach , but you forgot A couple things . If your children are Under 50 years old, Then the chances are, That was those birth mother’s Choices… To give birth and to give Their babies up…
MH/Duuuval
October 30, 2024 at 5:51 pm
“No, they’re not in danger when they’re pregnant. … We have some of the best health care in the world here.”
In that fancy area where Dungy lives this may be true, but in Duval our current infant mortality rate is 7.2 deaths per 1,000 births, which is higher than the state average of 6 deaths per 1,000 births.
The infant mortality rate in Duval County is higher than the rest of the state but, as usual, Mississippi is the worst. Good job, Florida! Keep on with your right to life rhetoric!