Fox News formally titled it “The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate.” But the faceoff rapidly was a full-out political brawl between Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor who is not working for president; and Ron DeSantis, the Florida Republican governor who’s, and isn’t gaining floor towards former President Donald Trump in voter polls.
The occasion was held in Alpharetta, Georgia, aired on Fox News, and moderated by Sean Hannity. Our PolitiFact companions examined the 2 state officers’ wide-ranging statements. You can learn the full protection right here.
Newsom has relished taunting DeSantis on social media and Fox News and, earlier this yr, he invited DeSantis to debate — arguing that the red-state insurance policies DeSantis has handed are stripping Americans of their freedoms. DeSantis counters that he’s the stronger defender of freedom, and has blasted California as “the petri dish for American leftism” and argues that “all the pieces [President Joe] Biden is doing, they’d speed up.”
True to the occasion’s billing, the nation’s culture wars had been entrance and heart on the debate stage. DeSantis portrayed California as a failed state with rampant crime and homelessness led by an “elite” politician too liberal for the remainder of the nation. “They have failed due to his leftist ideology,” DeSantis stated.
Newsom shot again, enjoying up California’s immense financial system and describing his state as one with out peer. He expressed his dedication to Biden’s reelection. He additionally referred to as out DeSantis for his covid-19 insurance policies, saying extra Floridians died of covid resulting from his extra relaxed public well being guidelines: “Tens of 1000’s of individuals misplaced their lives and for what, Ron?”
Abortion was a transparent flashpoint. Newsom defended California’s sturdy abortion protections and attacked DeSantis, alleging he “criminalizes” ladies and docs. He additionally instructed that if DeSantis grew to become president, he would additional roll again abortion rights nationwide. Newsom, requested by Hannity if he would signal a regulation banning abortion later in being pregnant, argued that such circumstances are extraordinarily uncommon.
“I belief the mom and her physician to make that call,” he stated.
The two additionally sparred over e-book bans, parental rights, and insurance policies concerning the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
DeSantis criticized Newsom on California’s rising homelessness, which he stated contributed to the “destruction of qualify of life” within the state.
Newsom identified that the disaster has been brewing for many years. He famous, although, that below his management, billions of {dollars} in taxpayer cash has been directed towards countering homelessness. He additionally boasted concerning the state’s investments in psychological well being and dependancy applications.
“The distinction is I’m the primary governor in California historical past to take this head-on,” Newsom stated, arguing that below his insurance policies 68,000 folks have been moved off the streets and into shelter or housing.
Here are the health-related claims PolitiFact examined:
Covid-19 lockdowns
Newsom borrowed a web page from Trump’s playbook by misleadingly portraying DeSantis as a lockdown chief. Newsom’s feedback centered on DeSantis’ actions within the pandemic’s first few weeks, when almost all governors operated in lockstep. Newsom omits that DeSantis reopened sooner than most governors in spring 2020.
“You handed an emergency declaration earlier than the state of California did,” Newsom stated. “You closed down your seashores, your bars, your eating places. It is a truth.”
Many native governments closed seashores for a restricted time, however DeSantis didn’t shut them statewide.
DeSantis issued an government order on March 17, 2020, directing Floridians to “restrict their gatherings” at seashores to not more than 10 folks and to “help seashore closures on the discretion of native authorities.”
He additionally ordered seashores in Broward and Palm Beach counties to shut for 11 days, following suggestions from native officers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The governor’s refusal to shut most seashores to spring break crowds drew heavy criticism and litigation.
Newsom was on firmer floor in his declare about closing bars. DeSantis ordered all bars and nightclubs closed for 30 days. Restaurants didn’t shut. His March 17 order stated eating places had been restricted to 50% buyer capability and needed to separate seating by 6 toes.
Governors nationwide issued a number of orders in March 2020 in response to the pandemic. DeSantis issued an order March 1 to determine covid response protocol and direct a public well being emergency. On March 4, Newsom declared a state of emergency to assist California put together for the pandemic.
Florida’s abortion limits and DeSantis’ abortion survivor story
As Hannity pressed Newsom on whether or not he supported any abortion restrictions, Newsom attacked Florida’s abortion legal guidelines.
“He signed a invoice banning any exceptions for rape and incest,” Newsom stated of DeSantis. “And then he stated it didn’t go far sufficient and determined to signal a six-week ban … that criminalizes ladies and criminalizes docs.”
DeSantis signed laws in 2022 that outlawed abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant. It doesn’t make exceptions for circumstances of incest, rape or human trafficking however contains an exception for a mom’s life.
DeSantis signed a stricter invoice in April that bans abortions after six weeks of being pregnant. Whether the regulation takes impact hinges on how the Florida Supreme Court guidelines in a lawsuit towards the present 15-week ban. The 2023 regulation does include exceptions, together with to save lots of a pregnant girl’s life or in circumstances of deadly fetal anomalies. Abortions for pregnancies involving rape, incest, or human trafficking could be allowed till 15 weeks of being pregnant if a girl has documentation corresponding to a restraining order, police report, or medical file.
The regulation penalizes physicians, however whether or not it additionally criminalizes ladies is much less clear, so now we have rated the same declare Half True. The regulation says that anybody who “actively participates in” an abortion commits a third-degree felony, which opens the door to prosecutors charging ladies, however we do not but know whether or not they are going to or how courts would reply to such prices. DeSantis has additionally stated that he does not need ladies prosecuted, solely docs.
Defending the regulation, DeSantis repeated an anecdote from the primary GOP presidential debate a couple of Floridian named Penny Hopper. Miriam “Penny” Hopper is an actual particular person, and an anti-abortion activist. Some of the small print about her delivery story have been referred to as into query.
Hopper stated she survived an abortion try in Florida in 1955. Her declare has been featured by anti-abortion teams and used to help what abortion opponents name “born alive” payments in state legislatures, which intention to guard infants who survive abortions, although there are federal legal guidelines for that objective.
In interviews, Hopper has stated she had been delivered round 23 weeks of gestation after her mom went to a hospital in Wauchula, Florida, whereas experiencing bleeding. Hopper stated the physician induced labor, and he or she was born at 1 pound, 11 ounces, and that the physician informed employees to discard her “lifeless or alive.” She stated her grandmother discovered her the following day on the hospital porch in a bedpan. Then, Hopper stated, a nurse volunteered to take her to a bigger hospital that was about 40 miles away.
That a child born at 23 weeks may survive in a single day with out medical consideration in 1955 is medically doubtful, consultants stated. From the Fifties by way of 1980, “new child loss of life was nearly ensured” for infants born at or earlier than 24 weeks of gestation, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology says on its web site.
The Washington Post additionally reported that contemporaneous newspaper accounts supply a special situation on the hospital, and stated the employees spent days preserving her alive earlier than arranging a police escort to hurry her to a different hospital.
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This article was reprinted from khn.org, a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is likely one of the core working applications at KFF – the unbiased supply for well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism.
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