DeSantis, pro-life activists hit back at Trump over abortion bill criticism

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hit back at former President Trump after the possible 2024 rival claimed the governor's six-week abortion ban had been "too harsh" for pro-life voters.

DeSantis defended his signing of the ban during a Tuesday press conference, telling reporters that virtually all pro-life voters supported the bill. Many pro-life groups spoke out to criticize Trump this week after he suggested that such abortion bans were too strict.

"Protecting an unborn child when there’s a detectable heartbeat is something that almost 99% of pro-lifers support," DeSantis told reporters. "It’s something that other states like Iowa, under Gov. Kim Reynolds, have enacted."

"As a Florida resident, you know, he didn’t give an answer about, ‘Would you have signed the heartbeat bill that Florida did, that had all the exceptions that people talk about?’" DeSantis added.

Trump split with pro-life groups in an interview with The Messenger on Monday, telling a reporter, "If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don't even know if he knew what he was doing. But he signed six weeks, and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh."