Gov. Ron DeSantis Gave Black People Another Reason To Leave Florida

A six-week abortion ban signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went into effect on Wednesday, kicking off the next act of DeSantis’ larger culture war in the Sunshine State.

The law is expected to have devastating impacts on Black pregnant people in Florida, who already suffer from disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality. The Root spoke to Black Floridians about the ban last year, and they did not mince words.

“This legislation is playing with people’s lives. People are going to die for the sake of an agenda, an agenda that doesn’t benefit people that look like me, a black woman,” Metayer Bowen, the first Black and Haitian woman Commissioner of Coral Springs, FL, told The Root last April.

Experts have been ringing the alarm about the impact of abortion bans on Black Americans long before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. And the data is concerning. Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder found that if abortion was completely banned nationwide, Black maternal mortality rates would increase by roughly 39 percent. For context, Black women are already three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.

However, the six-week abortion ban is hardly the only issue DeSantis pushed that’s had a negative impact on Black Floridians. Last year, the NAACP issued a travel advisory for the state of Florida arguing that DeSantis’ Florida had “engaged in an all-out attack on Black Americans, Black history, voting rights, members of the LGBTQ+community, immigrants, women’s reproductive rights, and free speech.”

Things haven’t slowed down in the year since the group issued the advisory. Earlier this year, DeSantis signed a law banning the use of state funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The ban led to the University of Florida eliminating all DEI positions at the school.

Now, Black Floridians will have to adjust to the reality of this new ban on top of the ongoing assault on voting rights, DEI, and LGBTQ+ rights.