By Nandita Bose
TAMPA (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Tuesday blamed his Republican opponent Donald Trump for new Florida abortion restrictions during a campaign stop in Tampa, as Democrats double down on their intentions to flip Trump's home state.
Earlier this month, Florida's Supreme Court cleared the way for a six-week abortion ban starting May 1, a time-frame before many women realize they are pregnant. The court also ordered that a ballot measure legalizing abortion until viability could go before voters this November.
The conservative U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe vs. Wade in 2022 opened the door for Florida and other states to set their own abortion laws. Trump campaigned in 2016 on adding judges who would overturn Roe and appointed three who did.
"Let's be real clear: there's one person responsible for this nightmare," Biden said. "He brags about it. Donald Trump," Biden told supporters.
"It should be a constitutional right," Biden said of abortion. "This isn't about state's rights. It's about women's rights."
Abortion is a top issue in the 2024 election, and Democrats believe harsh restrictions like in Florida and Arizona, which earlier this month upheld a 160-year-old abortion ban, will push voters to back Biden. U.S. voters overwhelmingly reject strict abortion bans, polls and state ballot initiatives show.
Abortion access is now almost non-existent in Southern states due to new laws, nearly all of them backed by Republicans, forcing women to cross state lines.
Trump's stance on the issue has been muddied in recent weeks. The Republican distanced himself from an Arizona ruling that upheld a 160-year-old abortion ban as he took credit for appointing the three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and made state restrictions possible.
"Donald Trump is worried voters are going to hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he's created," Biden said. "We are. He should be held accountable."
At a later campaign stop, Biden told a small group of Democrats "I think Florida is in play nationally."
UPHILL BATTLE FOR FLORIDA
Florida has a hefty 30 Electoral College votes and for a long time was a highly coveted battleground state, but Republicans have pulled away from Democrats there in recent years.
Some Biden aides think that his and the party's optimism in the state could be misplaced.
Trump won Florida in 2020 with 51.2% of the vote compared with Biden's 47.9%. In 2022, Republican Ron DeSantis won the governors race in a landslide, with 59.4% of the vote.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told Reuters she has seen more investments in advertising, staffing and opening new offices in the state from the Biden campaign. Biden, she said, understands the fight to win Florida "is an uphill battle, but it's one worth taking."
A compilation of opinion polls by FiveThirtyEight, the election data website, shows Trump with a substantial lead in Florida.
The Biden campaign has opened 133 offices nationwide, Biden said Tuesday. It has yet to open one in Florida, a campaign official said.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons, Stephen Coates and Alistair Bell)
