‘We’re very excited in Florida’: Lieutenant governor hails abortion ruling

DORAL, Fla. – Speaking at a breakfast hosted by a self-proclaimed “pro-family” organization, Florida’s lieutenant governor hailed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving abortion laws up to individual states, as nothing short of miraculous.

Republican Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez was a featured guest at the Christian Family Coalition’s 2022 Miami-Dade Legislative Victory & Candidates Breakfast Saturday in Doral.

“We’re very excited in Florida,” Nuñez said in an interview with Local 10 News. “The importance is that it’s going back to the states. We’ve never believed that an issue of that magnitude should be legislated by the bench.”

Florida already began its rollout of restrictions well before the Supreme Court ruling and Gov. Ron DeSantis hinted at more to come. A law set to ban abortions in Florida after 15 weeks takes effect July 1.

“Florida will continue to defend its recently-enacted pro-life reforms against state court challenges (and) will work to expand pro-life protections,” he said in a statement Friday.

When asked by Local 10 News if he’d call a special session to pass additional restrictions, his office wouldn’t comment.

On the opposite side of the abortion debate, the ruling sparked numerous protests nationwide and in Florida.

“Now we’re going to start looking at who are we electing,” said Mayte Canino, the deputy organizing director PAC of Florida Planned Parenthood. “Who are these politicians that are leading us and what are they doing?”

Canino said local elections will matter even more now.

“We’re going to be door knocking, we’re going to be calling people to remind them of what’s at stake in the election,” Canino said.

Here in South Florida, protesters marched through Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, where they were joined by county Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, and in Fort Lauderdale, where prominent Democrats, like State Sen. Lauren Book and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, spoke to a crowd of demonstrators.

Supporters of abortion rights are vowing a political fight.

“We will not go back” has been the common refrain, alluding to the time before Roe v. Wade, when abortion rights were not protected nationwide.


About the Authors:

In January 2017, Hatzel Vela became the first local television journalist in the country to move to Cuba and cover the island from the inside. During his time living and working in Cuba, he covered some of the most significant stories in a post-Fidel Castro Cuba. 

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.