美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)周二点名批评了竞争对手唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)，指责这位前总统在佛罗里达州的一次高调演讲中因为自罗诉韦德案时代结束以来堕胎禁令的传播，他在11月鼓励女性选民支持他，并指责那些他称之为生殖自由的反对者。
拜登在坦帕市外的希尔斯堡社区学院发表演讲时说:“让我们明确一点:有一个人要为这场噩梦负责，他承认并吹嘘这一点:唐纳德·特朗普。”除了极少数例外，该州为期六周的禁令开始生效.
拜登认为，是特朗普“剥夺了”全国妇女的自由，他任命了美国最高法院的三名法官，否决了罗伊的判决。拜登说，但正是女性掌握着反击的政治力量。
“当你这样做的时候，这将给唐纳德·特朗普和极端的MAGA共和党人上了宝贵的一课:不要惹美国妇女，”他说。
拜登的出现引发了对特朗普的嘲笑，也为他对堕胎权的辩护赢得了欢呼，这是他的竞选团队在大选之际高调关注这一问题的最新努力。
在此次活动之前，助手们曾表示，拜登的言论将把避孕、体外受精和堕胎与即将到来的2024年大选的结果联系起来，描绘了一幅这个周期的利害关系。
在他的演讲中，总统援引了那些被迫离家很远去堕胎的妇女，或者那些在他们的州的限制下无法得到紧急护理的妇女。
他抨击特朗普的立场，庆祝美国最高法院在2022年推翻罗伊的决定，并将这个问题返回到地方一级。
从那时起，21个州颁布了限制或禁止堕胎的法令。
讽刺地引用特朗普之前的一句话——“各州正在非常出色地工作，在某些情况下保守，在某些情况下不保守，但他们正在工作”——拜登周二表示，“这是佛罗里达州为期六周的禁令，这真的很棒，不是吗?甚至在女性知道自己怀孕之前，这很聪明吗?”
拜登还将特朗普与亚利桑那州最高法院最近的一项裁决联系起来，该裁决恢复了内战时期对该州几乎所有堕胎的严格禁令，该禁令最早可能于6月生效。
特朗普曾表示，禁令走得太远，应该取消，但拜登在他的讲话中坚持认为，“特朗普实际上是在带我们回到160年前。”
拜登说，堕胎不是一个州的问题。他的背后是一个“恢复罗伊”的标志，因为他经常重复承诺，如果足够多的民主党议员当选，他将留在白宫，他将推动通过国会编纂罗伊的保护措施。
“他(特朗普)错了，最高法院错了。这应该是联邦宪法中的一项宪法权利，一项联邦权利，不管你住在美国的什么地方。“这不是关于州的权利，这是关于妇女的权利。"
拜登竞选团队越来越多地在堕胎问题上攻击特朗普，包括他的新立场，即堕胎应由地方官员和选民决定。
特朗普强调他支持强奸、乱伦和孕妇生活的三个关键例外，并表示如果当选，他不会签署全国堕胎禁令推翻了先前的承诺。
“我们把它还给美国了....它正在以它应该的方式运行，”他本月早些时候说。
拜登在周二的演讲中抨击了这一立场，认为特朗普“担心选民会让他对州级限制的“残酷和混乱”负责”。
“对特朗普来说，坏消息是我们将让他负责，”拜登说。
他还表示，鉴于特朗普的历史，选民现在不应该相信他在堕胎问题上的言论:“他需要证明多少次(他)不可信?”
“他把多布斯案的裁决(推翻罗伊案的裁决)描述为一个奇迹，”拜登接着说。
“也许它要来了他想卖的那本圣经拜登补充道，他指的是特朗普最近的一件商品。哇，我差点想买一个看看里面到底有什么。"
选民发言
佛罗里达州圣彼得堡的注册民主党人琼·约翰斯告诉美国广播公司，她对美国妇女的生育权感到担忧。
约翰斯说:“我不明白你怎么能支持反堕胎，却不关心发生在女性身上的事情。”“此外，我在这里是因为我认为乔·拜登是我们维护民主的最佳机会之一。”
另一位来自佛罗里达州格尔夫波特的民主党人玛丽·汉拉汉(Mary Hanrahan)称赞拜登在为期六周的堕胎禁令下周生效之前来到该州。汉拉汉特别提到了一项扩大堕胎途径的提议，佛罗里达州的堕胎倡导者成功地将该提议加入了11月的投票。
“我认为我们需要佛罗里达州的每个人都投票赞成第四修正案，废除为期六周的堕胎禁令，”汉拉汉说。“我认为这是个坏主意。我认为人们需要对自己的身体负责。”
民主党人说，堕胎“将决定这次选举”
民主党人抓住了堕胎权的问题，自2022年投票以来，在战场和红州都取得了成功——拜登的竞选团队本周在周二的行程预览中提到了这一点。
“堕胎禁令现在是全国各战场州的投票议题。这将决定这次选举，”拜登在亚利桑那州的竞选顾问珍·考克斯说。
拜登竞选发言人迈克尔·泰勒(Michael Tyler)在拜登前往佛罗里达州之前与考克斯(Cox)一起接受了记者电话采访，他说，“每当堕胎权利出现在选票上时，他们就赢了。”
泰勒接着说:“11月，佛罗里达州将举行公民投票，亚利桑那州和内华达州也可能举行公民投票。”。“上一次堕胎公投是在2012年，奥巴马总统赢得了该州。因此，凭借我们巨大的财政优势，拜登-哈里斯竞选团队有能力在许多通往胜利的道路上投资，这包括佛罗里达州。”
随着扩大或保护堕胎权利的拟议堕胎倡议将于今年11月出现在几个州的投票中，包括亚利桑那州、佛罗里达州和内华达州，拜登竞选团队强调了他们认为共和党人对允许堕胎构成的威胁。
民主党人认为，这个问题正在刺激他们的基础选民和关键的摇摆选民。
然而，拜登周二在佛罗里达州的讲话也值得注意，因为他作为一名虔诚的天主教徒的个人信仰，他与堕胎问题的关系很复杂。
“我不赞成堕胎，”他去年承认道。“但是你猜怎么着?罗诉韦德案说得对。罗诉韦德案教[一般允许中期堕胎]切入了绝大多数宗教已经达成一致的地方。”
其他民主党人敦促拜登声音更大一些。
在一月份的一次采访中在哥伦比亚广播公司的“面向全国”节目中当被问及拜登是否需要更多地谈论堕胎时，密歇根州州长格雷琴·惠特默说，“我认为如果他这样做就好了。”
相反，总统严重依赖副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯将成为竞选的主要信使.
今年1月，她发起了一场“生殖自由之旅”，本月，在该州最高法院裁决支持已有160年历史、近乎全面的堕胎禁令后，她迅速前往亚利桑那州。
拜登周二的佛罗里达之行也强调了民主党人暂时的乐观在2020年和2016年被击败后，他们可以在今年11月夺回该州-与此同时，共和党人在那里取得了一系列引人注目的胜利，包括州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯的崛起。
接受美国广播公司新闻采访的共和党人淡化了民主党的热情，指出共和党在许多地方竞选中获胜，而民主党过去在选举中就堕胎问题发出的信息仍然失败。
提到为期六周的禁令，佛罗里达州共和党主席埃文·鲍尔(Evan Power)说，“这是选民让他们的立法者去塔拉哈西兑现的，他们确实兑现了。因此，我认为根本不会有反对意见。”
但是拜登竞选团队坚持认为他们看到了机会。
“我不认为总统明天来这个州谈论这次选举对佛罗里达州和全国妇女的根本利害关系是‘装饰门面’。”“我们非常重视佛罗里达，”泰勒本周早些时候告诉记者认为唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)已将美国收入囊中的想法，与事实相去甚远。"
Trump 'ripped away' abortion rights nationwide, Biden argues as he urges women to back him
President Joe Biden on Tuesday called out rival Donald Trump by name, blaming the former presidentin a high-profile speech in Floridafor the spread of abortion bans since the end of Roe v. Wade as he encouraged women voters to back him in November -- and rebuke those he called opponents of reproductive freedom.
"Let's be real clear: There's one person responsible for this nightmare, and he's acknowledged and he brags about it: Donald Trump," Biden said in a speech from Hillsborough Community College outside Tampa, speaking one week before thestate's six-week ban, with narrow exceptions, goes into effect.
It was Trump, Biden argued, who had "ripped away" women's freedom around the country by naming three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who ruled against Roe. But it was women who hold the political power to push back, Biden said.
"When you do that, it will teach Donald Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans a valuable lesson: Don't mess with the women of America," he said.
Biden's appearance, which spurred jeers for Trump and cheers for his defense of abortion access, was the latest high-profile effort by his campaign to spotlight the issue as the general election fight gears up.
Ahead of the event, aides had said Biden's remarks would tie access to contraception, to in vitro fertilization and to abortion to the results of the looming 2024 election, painting a picture of what's at stake this cycle.
In his speech, the president invoked women forced to travel far from home for needed abortions or who have been unable to get emergency care under their states' restrictions.
He slammed Trump's position celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court decision overruling Roe in 2022 and returning the issue to the local level.
Since then, 21 states have enacted restrictions or bans on abortion.
Sarcastically quoting a previous Trump comment -- "the states are working very brilliantly, in some cases conservative, in some cases not conservative, but they're working" -- Biden said on Tuesday, "It's a six-week ban in Florida, it's really brilliant, isn't it? Even before women know they're pregnant, is that brilliant?"
Biden also tied Trump to a recent Arizona Supreme Court ruling reviving a strict, Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions in the state, which could go into effect as soon as June.
Trump has said that ban goes too far and should be undone but Biden insisted in his remarks that "Trump is literally taking us back 160 years."
Abortion is not a state issue, Biden said. He was backed by a "Restore Roe" sign as he repeated a frequent promise that if enough Democratic lawmakers are elected and he stays in the White House, he will push to codify Roe's protections through Congress.
"He's [Trump is] wrong, the Supreme Court was wrong. It should be a constitutional right in the federal Constitution, a federal right, and it shouldn't matter where in America you live," Biden said. "This isn't about states' rights, this is about women's rights."
The Biden campaign has increasingly attacked Trump over the issue of abortion, including his new stance that it should remain with local officials and voters.
Trump stresses his support for three key exceptions of rape, incest and the pregnant woman's life and also says thathe will not sign a national abortion ban if elected, reversing an earlier promise.
"We gave it back to the states .... And it's working the way it's supposed to," he said earlier this month.
Biden assailed that position in his Tuesday speech, contending that Trump is "worried that voters will hold him accountable" for the "cruelty and chaos" of state-level restrictions.
"The bad news for Trump is we are going to hold him accountable," Biden said.
He also said voters should not believe Trump's rhetoric on abortion now, given his history: "How many times does he have to prove [he] can't be trusted?"
"He describes the Dobbs decision [overruling Roe] as a miracle," Biden went on to say.
"Maybe it's comingfrom that Bible he's trying to sell," Biden added, referring to a recent piece of Trump merchandise. "Whoa, I almost wanted to buy one just to see what the hell's in it."
Voters speak
June Johns, a registered Democrat in St. Petersburg, Florida, told ABC News she's concerned about women's reproductive rights in the country.
"I don't see how you can be pro-life and not be concerned about what's happening to women," Johns said. "Also, I'm here because I think Joe Biden is one of our best chances to preserve our democracy."
Another Democrat, Mary Hanrahan from Gulfport, Florida, applauded Biden for coming to the state ahead of the six-week abortion ban going into effect next week. Hanrahan singled out a proposed measure to expand abortion access that abortion advocates in Florida successfully added to the November ballot.
"I think we need everybody in Florida to vote yes on Amendment Four and get rid of the six-week abortion ban," Hanrahan said. "I think it's a bad idea. I think that people need to be in charge of their own bodies."
Abortion 'will decide this election,' Dems say
Democrats have seized on the issue of abortion access, seeing success in both battleground and red states when it's on the ballot since 2022 -- which Biden's campaign noted this week in previewing his trip on Tuesday.
"Abortion bans are now a voting issue in battleground states across the country. That will decide this election," said Jen Cox, a Biden campaign adviser in Arizona.
Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler joined Cox on a call with reporters ahead of Biden's trip to Florida and said that "whenever abortion rights have been on the ballot, they've won."
"In November, Florida will have a referendum on the ballot and Arizona and Nevada are likely to as well," Tyler said then. "The last time there was an abortion referendum on the ballot in 2012, President [Barack] Obama won the state. So, with our enormous financial advantage, the Biden-Harris campaign can afford to invest in many paths to victory and that includes Florida."
As proposed abortion initiatives to expand or protect access are set to appear on several state ballots this November, including in Arizona, Florida and Nevada, the Biden campaign has emphasized what they see as the threat Republicans pose to allowing abortions.
Democrats believe the issue is galvanizing to their base and crucial swing voters.
Tuesday's remarks from Biden in Florida were also notable, however, given his complicated relationship with the issue of abortion because of his personal faith as a devout Catholic.
"I'm not big on abortion," he acknowledged last year. "But guess what? Roe v. Wade got it right. Roe v. Wade [generally allowing abortions through the second trimester] cut in a place where the vast majority of religions have reached agreement."
Other Democrats have urged Biden to be more full-throated.
During an interview in Januaryon CBS' "Face The Nation,"when asked if Biden needs to talk about abortion more, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said, "I think it would be good if he did."
Instead, the president has leaned heavily onVice President Kamala Harris to be the campaign's primary messenger.
She launched a "Reproductive Freedom Tour" in January and quickly traveled to Arizona this month after the state's Supreme Court ruling upholding the 160-year-old, near-total abortion ban.
Biden's trip to Florida on Tuesdayalso underscores Democrats' tentative optimismthat they could retake the state this November after being defeated in 2020 and 2016 -- at the same time that Republicans have seen a slew of notable wins there, including with the rise of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Republicans who spoke with ABC News played down Democratic zeal, pointing to the many local races the GOP has been winning and Democrats' past messaging on abortion in elections they still lost.
Referring to the six-week ban, Evan Power, the chair of the Florida GOP, said that "this is what the voters sent their legislators to Tallahassee to deliver on and they did deliver on it. So I don't think there's a backlash coming in at all."
But the Biden campaign insists they see opportunity.
"I don't think the president coming to the state tomorrow to talk about the fundamental stakes in this election for women in Florida and across the country is 'window dressing.' We take Florida very seriously," Tyler told reporters earlier this week. "The idea that Donald Trump has the state in the bag could not be further from the truth."
