DeSantis suspends state attorney who vowed not to enforce Florida’s new abortion law
DeSantis suspends state attorney who vowed not to enforce Florida’s new abortion law
Democrats call move “extreme and unhinged.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his decision was made because state attorney Andrew Warren was picking and choosing which laws to enforce. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images
By MATT DIXON
08/04/2022 01:14 PM EDT
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday suspended a Tampa-area elected state attorney who recently became the only prosecutor in Florida to sign a pledge that he would not prosecute people under the state’s newly enacted abortion law.
The suspension of 13th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Andrew Warren is effective immediately, and comes as he has not only taken outspoken stances on Florida’s newest abortion law but was seen as a rising figure in Florida Democratic circles.
DeSantis said his decision was made because Warren was picking and choosing which laws to enforce. The governor raised Warren’s objection to prosecuting people under Florida’s newly enacted 15-week abortion ban, which doesn’t provide exceptions for rape and incest, as well as Warren signaling he supported gender-affirming treatments for trans minors, which DeSantis has condemned.
In a Tampa news conference, which his press secretary hyped as an event that would make the “liberal media meltdown,” DeSantis noted there is no state law banning gender-affirming treatments but included that in the executive order suspending Warren because one day the Legislature could ban them.
“The Legislature of Florida may want to come in and do something on that, you are going to say presumptively you can’t do it?” DeSantis said during the event.
Warren’s office did not return a re
