Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a far-right Republican from Florida, proudly calls herself a “pro-life extremist.”
“My husband is a byproduct of rape,” she told a conservative student group in 2022, explaining her support for an abortion ban that excludes pregnancies caused by rape or incest. She said no one deserves to be “judge, jury, or executioner to decide whether someone has a right to life.”
But the Florida Supreme Court's decision this week to uphold a six-week abortion ban, and a second ruling that would put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot overturning that ban, is a big deal for hardliners like Luna. May pose political risks. . Now, she and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, another Republican whose district is not solidly red in Florida, will have to defend their record of supporting anti-abortion measures at the national level as they stake control of the House. It will happen.
The court's ruling said the six-week abortion ban could come into effect on May 1. But in a twist, it would also allow a vote on a constitutional amendment that would guarantee access to abortion “before viability” for about 24 weeks. The two rulings suddenly raised hopes for Democrats to take control of the House of Representatives in a state that has long trended to the right.
“Women and their families across Florida are facing a negative reality as they are being disenfranchised by far-right politicians,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Lauryn Phan Nguyen. “Anna Paulina Luna and María Elvira Salazar have accepted draconian laws forcing them to conceive at the behest of the government, but in November Floridians voted them and their extreme ideology out. This gives us an opportunity to step down and defend abortion rights.”
It's not just Florida. The fate of reproductive rights is expected to be a key issue in House races across the country, especially for vulnerable Republicans representing districts won by President Biden in 2020. Some of these lawmakers have struggled to appeal to conservative voters who support tougher restrictions without alienating them. A growing majority of voters do not.
For example, California Republican Rep. Michelle Steele recently withdrew her support for the Vital Conception Act, which would amount to a nationwide abortion ban. She said the reason for this was “confusion” about her position on IVF. We support you.
According to Rolling Stone, Nebraska Republican and previous co-sponsor of the bill, Congressman Don Bacon, who withdrew his support, posted on his campaign website a list of anti-abortion groups that have supported him. The name has been completely removed. For example, his “A” rating from the anti-abortion group SBA Pro-Life America no longer appears there.
Neither Luna nor Salazar support the bill.
Abortion bans have become a politically toxic issue for Republicans in elections across the country. But in Florida, a court ruling this week raised the bar, ensuring the issue will play a decisive role in November's election.
Luna is special.
She said she first became convinced that life begins at conception when she dissected a chicken embryo in a biology lab and watched it being separated from the female in college.
“Life begins with gestation, and even things like chickens can sense female danger,” she told the Eternal Word Television Network's “Pro-Life Weekly” last year. (Luna said she was so horrified by what she witnessed that she immediately brought home 60 chicken eggs, hatched them, and distributed them to her friends.)
Salazar, a veteran Miami-based news anchor who worked for Telemundo and Spanish-language CNN before running for office, doesn't have many graphic personal stories. But this year, she voted to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone. Salazar also voted to eliminate resources for active duty military personnel seeking reproductive health care, a measure Luna also supported. These votes allowed both women to earn her A+ rating from her SBA Pro-Life America.
Mr. Luna and Mr. Salazar won their seats in 2022 after the Supreme Court had already overturned Roe v. Wade. But with Republicans in control of the House, they have complicated voting records to defend, and a Florida court ruling will make those records a top issue in their re-election races.
Steve Scheer, a Democratic political operative who oversaw former President Barack Obama's two general election victories in Florida and now runs a super PAC supporting Mr. “It's a great way to start a conversation with voters who might otherwise be reluctant to do so.” .
Luna's spokeswoman, Olivia Carson, said the Florida court's decision does not affect Luna's race because voters understand that abortion is a state issue. She dismissed the five Democrats vying for the chance to run against Luna as unserious candidates.
But in a sign of how damaging reproductive rights issues are for the Republican Party, Mr. Carson said that Mr. Luna has a track record of “anti-abortion extremism” that he has wanted to promote in the past, including his previous support for Florida. Including the fact that it was expressed, it was not emphasized. She said the six-week abortion ban “follows science.”
“Congressman Luna is focused on inflation, jobs and the economy,” Carson said. “She is the only Republican in the House with IVF legislation.”
The bill, the Right to Try In Vitro Fertilization Act of 2024, has been criticized by Democrats as too narrow to be effective. The bill would disqualify states that ban in vitro fertilization from receiving federal block subsidies for mothers and babies.
No state has explicitly sought to ban such treatments. But a February decision by the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children, upholding an abortion ban that affects access to in vitro fertilization. Such a measure would not be disqualifying under Ms. Luna's law.
In a statement, Luna avoided taking a position on Florida's six-week ban, instead focusing on the November ballot initiative.
“The Supreme Court sent these decisions back to the jurisdictions,” she said. “Our system of government works best when decisions are made at the local level, not in Washington, D.C. These decisions should be made by Floridians.”
A spokeswoman for Ms. Salazar did not respond to a request for comment on the Florida court's ruling.
Republican pollster Nicole McCleskey said the ruling means Republican lawmakers will have to address the issue at some point.
“I hope they do so in some clear and convincing way,” she said. “It's not something they can avoid.” But McCleskey added that the abortion issue alone won't be enough for Democrats to take back the House or the White House.
That's “the only problem they have,” she says. “At this point, we are not convinced that this is enough.”
Since arriving in Congress in 2023, Luna has aligned herself with the far right on many issues, but her constituency is far from that. In Pinellas County, she won 18.5 percent in the presidential primary, even though Nikki Haley has already dropped out of the race. Competition with former President Donald J. Trump.
Salazar's district is entirely within Miami-Dade County. In 2022, Salazar's race was considered one of the most competitive in the state, but he defeated his Democratic opponent by an unexpected double-digit margin.
Lucia Baez Geller, a Miami-Dade school board member who disagrees with Salazar, said she expects stricter abortion bans to change that this year.
“There will be no access to abortion in any form,” Baez-Geller said in an interview. “People will be fed up when that reality sets in. Our freedoms will be on the ballot this November, but voters are also coming together to vote on who will protect their freedoms. . She's not voting for freedom.”
