Respect Life

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill April 20 that will eliminate the state’s requirement that juries in capital punishment cases agree unanimously to recommend death sentences, lowering the number of jurors needed to hand down a death sentence to the lowest threshold of any U.S. state.

Pro-life advocates encountered set-backs as Colorado’s governor signed a trio of bills to expand access to abortion in the Centennial State, and Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a “born-alive” bill that seeks to protect infants who survive failed abortion attempts.

Florida lawmakers and the state’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to launch his bid for the Republican presidential nomination soon, approved a bill April 13 to ban abortions after six weeks.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-La., called for an end to the death penalty in Louisiana during his final State of the State address, April 10, in an impassioned call for lawmakers to adopt legislative proposals reflecting its identity as a “pro-life state.”