Anti-abortion groups are inflamed by the Texas ruling

By Teaganne Finn and Allan Smith - NBC News

Anti-abortion groups feel strengthened after the Supreme Court allowed a Texas law to be upheld that bans most abortions, a move that experts say could be a

"blueprint"

for eliminating abortion rights.

"This is a great victory for the pro-life movement and we are excited that the law can continue to apply," said Rebecca Parma, Senior Legislative Associate for Texas Right to Life.

Late on Wednesday, the high court rejected an appeal by abortion rights advocates to block the restrictive Texas law that bans abortions after fetal heart activity can be detected, starting at

six weeks of pregnancy.

.

The law also allows anyone in the country to

sue abortion providers

or others who help women undergo the procedure after that time.

Although lawsuits have been filed against Texas law, Parma said: "We are optimistic that this law will survive those attacks and that this historic policy will remain in effect and will continue to save lives."

[Eight keys to understanding why the Texas anti-abortion law and the Supreme Court decision are so controversial]

Shortly after the ruling, Wilton Simpson, the president of the

Florida

Senate

,

said Thursday that the Legislature would consider

enacting a copy of Texas law

that effectively prohibits most abortions.

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"It's something we're already working on," he told an affiliate of the local Tampa Bay news channel.

Separately,

South Dakota

Governor

Kristi Noem tweeted that she has directed

her office's

"unborn child advocate"

to review Texas law "and current South Dakota laws to make sure we have the strongest pro-life laws on the state books. "

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 the one in Texas could save lives not born in Arkansas."

["An Assault on Rights": Reactions to Texas' Near-Total Abortion Ban]

The

defenders of the right to abortion have said the law is unconstitutional.

Previous Supreme Court rulings have made it illegal for states to ban abortion before the fetus is viable, which usually occurs around the 24th week of pregnancy.

But Texas law was not designed to penalize abortions directly after six weeks, allowing the law to circumvent that rule.

Rather, according to critics, it

was written to incentivize civil lawsuits

at the municipal, county and state levels, forcing supporters of abortion rights to pay

potentially exorbitant costs

to defend themselves, regardless of the outcome.

"You have never been pregnant": White House spokeswoman responds bluntly about abortion

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Kristin Ford, acting vice president of communications for abortion rights group NARAL, said the copycat laws are "deeply concerning."

"I think there are too many people who assumed that

Roe [v. Wade]

was an established law and that

the right to abortion was safe and it is not," he

said.

Looking ahead, Mallory Quigley, vice president of communications for Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion organization, said she was encouraged by the ruling, but now all eyes are on the

Mississippi case that will be heard in court. Supreme later this year,

which bans most abortions after 15 weeks.

[No, it is false that there is an increased risk of miscarriage from the COVID-19 vaccine]

The case is a direct challenge to

Roe v.

Wade

, the

landmark decision that established the legal right to abortion across the country.

Pro-life activists from

Georgia, South Carolina and Ohio

echoed Quigley, stating that the Mississippi case is the biggest domino to fall and will have the biggest effect on abortion law in their states.

Mike Gonidakis, president of the Ohio Right to Life organization, said he received "countless calls from Ohio state representatives and senators" Thursday asking if they should try to pass a bill identical to the one in Texas.

He said his advice was to wait for "the big showdown" with the Mississippi case.

Abortion critics and advocates are up in arms over controversy over Texas law

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"In Ohio we have a trigger bill that we are going to get to Governor [Mike] DeWine later this year," he said, referring to laws designed to immediately ban abortion should

Roe

be overturned.

"And the trigger bill says that when

Roe

is overturned

, Ohio will be abortion-free except to save the life of the mother," he added.

[The Supreme Court agrees to analyze a case on abortion that will allow it to decide whether to impose new limits on this right of women]

Ohio is one of the states that have passed a version of the

"heartbeat law

,

"

which makes abortion illegal as soon as the heartbeat of the fetus is detected.

Those laws have been outlawed in federal courts.

But Gonidakis said that if the Supreme Court completely overturns

Roe

in resolving the Mississippi case, "then we don't have to limit [a ban to] six weeks, we can start at conception," he warned.