“Shortly after Texas adopted its extreme, unprecedented ban on abortion, Republican leaders in at least seven states states are looking into how they could follow its lead. Republican officials in Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, and South Dakota have already suggested they’re going to do what they can to copy the Texas legislation while Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Ohio are expected to do the same, according to the Washington Post. Others are likely to join the list shortly. All in all, as many as a quarter of all states are expected to introduce legislation that follows the Texas example, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports reproductive rights.
Politico points out that many of the states that appear the most eager to mimic Texas are led by Republican governors with presidential ambitions. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noemi wants to “make sure we have the strongest pro-life laws on the books” while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that “what they did in Texas was interesting.” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also celebrated the “procedural victory” for abortion opponents at the Supreme Court. In order to make it easier for states to follow the example set by Texas, Arkansas state Sen. Jason Rapert shared a template that other state lawmakers could reproduce.”
