Republican-led states are already making plans to pass restrictive abortion bills of their own following the Supreme Court’s decision not to block Texas’ controversial new abortion law. A key Florida lawmaker is already saying his state will be next to try and pass a copycat bill like Texas’s heartbeat abortion legislation, which prohibits the procedure after any fetal cardiac activity is detected, which is usually around six weeks and before many women even know they’re pregnant.
WFLA reporter Evan Donovan says he talked to the president of the state senate and was told Florida GOP lawmakers are already working on such a bill during the 2022 legislative session that starts in mid-January.
It shouldn’t be surprising that Florida lawmakers are trying to fast-track passing such a bill now that they’ve seen the high court’s stance on Texas’ law. Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been fighting tooth and nail to prevent schools from implementing mask mandates to protect students and teachers from COVID-19, today said he would welcome what he called “pro-life legislation.”
A spokesperson has said in the past that DeSantis would sign a heartbeat abortion bill if it came across his desk.
U.S. News writes:
Arkansas state Sen. Jason Rapert on Thursday tweeted that he planned to file legislation mirroring Texas’ law when lawmakers reconvene this fall. The Republican lawmaker sponsored a 2013 “heartbeat” abortion ban that was later struck down by federal courts and another outright ban enacted this year that a federal judge has blocked.
Will other states try to copy Texas’ complicated legal wording, which empowers regular citizens to report people who have abortions and anyone who helps them. The unusual procedural mechanics of the law succeeded, at least temporarily, in working around Roe v. Wade, something the Supreme Court admitted when it upheld the law.
