Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called out the pro-life movement during the third GOP debate on Wednesday for being ill-prepared to combat abortion referenda in various states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The 2024 Republican presidential candidate specifically said the pro-life movement had been caught “flat-footed” on the issue, making the comment just one day after Ohio joined several other states in codifying the supposed “right” to abortion in its state constitution.

“You have to do a better job on these referenda. I think of all the stuff that’s happened to the pro-life cause; they have been caught flat-footed on these referenda, and they have been losing the referenda,” DeSantis said.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, every single pro-abortion ballot measure has been successful, including Issue 1 in Ohio on Tuesday.

During the 2022 special elections, Kansans rejected a ballot measure that would have established that the state constitution does not include a right to abortion. During the 2022 midterms, voters in California, Michigan, and Vermont codified abortion into their constitutions. At the same time, voters in Montana rejected a ballot measure that would have given rights to babies born alive in botched abortions. Voters in Kentucky also rejected an amendment similar to the one in Kansas.

Emboldened by the strategy, pro-abortion activists are seeking to introduce ballot measures in several other states going into 2024, including in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota.

“A lot of the people who are voting for the referenda are Republicans who would vote for a Republican candidate. So you have to understand how to do that,” DeSantis continued. “But let’s just be clear, the Democrats have taken a position: they will not identify the point at which there should be any protection all the way up until birth. That is wrong, and we cannot stand for that.”

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