U.S Abortion Law: Abortion Will Be Illegal or Severely Restricted

The U.S Supreme Court has terminated nationwide, constitutional protections for abortion that had been in existence for about 50 years, leaving the decision to determine the procedure’s legality up to individual states.

The conservative majority issued a ruling Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, a verdict that is expected to lead to abortion bans and severe restriction in roughly half the states.

At least 13 states, mainly in the South and Midwest, have passed so-called “trigger laws,” legislation effectively banning abortion that is ready to be enforced in the wake of the pivotal U.S. Supreme Court opinion.

Another handful of states have near-total bans or prohibitions after 6 weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. In roughly a half-dozen other states, the fight will be over dormant abortion bans that were enacted before Roe was decided in 1973 or new proposals to sharply limit when abortions can be performed, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

Nearly half of U.S. states already have laws on the books that would ban abortion completely or very early in a pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The laws fall into three basic categories:

1. Unenforced abortion bans that were passed before Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 and are still on the books in some states

2. Bans that have been passed but blocked in court under Roe

3. So-called trigger bans that are designed to take effect when Roe is overturned.

At least eight states have passed anti-abortion restrictions this year: Arizona, Idaho, Florida, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming, Kentucky and Tennessee. Some of those laws have no exceptions for rape or incest.

Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and South Carolin have 6-week abortion laws that have been previously blocked or struck down by the courts. These states are likely to reinstate those restrictions.

At least two states, Michigan and Wisconsin, have only state laws banning abortion that were passed before Roe and could take effect if the decision is overturned, according to The Associated Press. The governor of Michigan, a Democrat, is suing to reverse that state’s ban.

Another seven states — Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia — have both pre- and post-Roe bans on the books, and which one they will choose to observe remains unclear.

Pennsylvania has a Republican-led legislature that may try to pass new anti-abortion restrictions. However, the state’s Democratic governor has served a firewall against such legislation.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have placed protections for abortion access in state law, though they do take slightly different forms, according to Guttmacher. Colorado, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont and D.C. protect the right to abortion throughout the entire pregnancy. Twelve other states – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington – have passed laws to protect the right to abortion prior to viability.

At least eight states have moved to strengthen existing protections or expand abortion access this year: California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, New Jersey, Maryland and Connecticut.