Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) indicated Thursday he could support a law banning abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, saying it was "interesting" and that he was "going to look more significantly at it."
Why it matters: States with Republican governments — newly emboldened by the Supreme Court's decision to leave Texas' law in place — could soon attempt to enact their own near-total abortion bans.
What he's saying: “What they did in Texas was interesting and I haven’t really been able to look enough into it,” DeSantis told reporters at a news conference in West Palm Beach. “I am going to look more significantly at it.”
Driving the news: Florida legislative officials are expected to take up new anti-abortion bills during the upcoming session in January, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
- State Senate President Wilton Simpson (R) told WFLA that "there is no question" the legislature will consider a "heartbeat" bill similar to the one passed in Texas.
The big picture: The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision late Wednesday, rejected an emergency application to block Texas' restrictive law that bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.
- The law, which contains no exceptions for cases of rape and incest, bans the procedure after the detection of a fetal heartbeat — before many women know they are pregnant.
- But it isn't enforced by the state and instead allows private citizens to sue anyone suspected of facilitating an abortion, including people who transport a patient to get the procedure.
Flashback: DeSantis signed onto a brief in July asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade as it considers a separate case over a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks.
Go deeper: Here are the next states that could pass abortion bans after Texas
