Republican Florida State Senate President Wilton Simpson stated on Thursday, he suggested that “we look at Texas law and see if we can do more here in Florida.”
Simpson told WFLA that the legislature was “already” working on legislation that would outlaw abortion when a baby heartbeat was found, as Texas does, and when asked about his “legislative intentions” in light of Texas law, he simply responded with a smiling sunless emoji.
On Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated that he “welcomes” pro-life legislation and called the Texas bill, known as SB8, “interesting,” adding that he intended to “look more closely” at the legislation.
Most abortion restrictions have been removed by the courts. However, SB8 was expected to be challenged in court, with only private individuals allowed to enforce an abortion ban through private lawsuits against anybody who “assisted” abortion.
After the US Supreme Court upheld Texas’s abortion ban, the state of Florida became the first in an expected line of Republican state legislators to indicate their intention to adopt their own anti-abortion legislation on Thursday.
The Texas bill comes as Republican state legislatures have regularly approved laws aimed at banning abortion in recent years.
Since Roe v. Wade’s abortion is legal, similar restrictions have always been enforced in court, making Texas’ legislation the most severe ban.
Only since 1973 has abortion been legal in the United States.
“You’ll see a lot of these [laws] filed in the next few weeks,” says John Seago, legislative director of the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, which helped write the Texas law.
Cego pointed out that the justices stated future legal challenges against Texas legislation might still be undertaken.
There were five votes in favor of upholding SB 8 because the court felt it was a constitutionality ruling rather than a procedural one, which would allow the defendants listed in the case to appeal it.
Wasn’t the time yet? As a matter of fact, it’s a legal requirement.