Now that the state of Texas has been allowed to effectively ban most abortions using the novel method of enabling lawsuits against anyone involved in an abortion, Republican officials and activists in other states are considering their own version of the Texas law.
The unique nature of the law has made it more difficult to directly challenge the constitutionality of it and the GOP has taken notice. The Supreme Court's decision not to immediately block the law has convinced them that this may be their easiest path to banning abortion in other states.
Not long after the ruling, Wilton Simpson, the president of the Florida Senate, said Thursday the Legislature would consider enacting a copycat of the Texas law effectively banning most abortions. [...]
Separately, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem tweeted she's directed the "unborn child advocate" in her office to review the Texas law "and current South Dakota laws to make sure we have the strongest pro-life laws on the books in SD."
And in Arkansas, Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, said in an email that her organization "will seriously consider how a law like S.B. 8 could save unborn lives in Arkansas."
If the Supreme Court eventually and formally allows states to ban abortion, there will be race to become the first state to do so. What better path to the GOP nomination is there than to become the first governor to ban abortion?
I'm at least a little skeptical that the Texas law will ultimately be upheld because it seems virtually impossible to muster a rationale for why a random person has legal standing to sue someone else over a medical procedure performed on their own body, but I think the right to an abortion is on very thin ice. The Texas law is not the only or even the primary legal case that could lead to the end of Roe. A less clever ban on abortion will be reviewed during the Supreme Court's next session.