Topline
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday, giving states license to ban abortion, meaning 13 states’ “trigger bans” outlawing the procedure will now start taking effect—and many already have.
Anti-abortion activists protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on June 21 in Washington, ... [+]
Key Facts
Kentucky, Louisiana and South Dakota’s abortion bans went into effect immediately upon the Supreme Court issuing its ruling, while Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma’s bans took effect after state officials certified the rulings.
North Dakota and Utah’s bans will take effect once state officials certify the ruling and declare the trigger law is now constitutional, which is expected to happen soon.
In Mississippi and Wyoming, it will take longer to ban abortion: Mississippi will ban abortions 10 days after the attorney general issues an opinion saying the trigger law is now constitutional, and Wyoming’s will take effect five days after the governor certifies that Roe has been overturned.
Texas clinics have already stopped providing abortions, as Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said an abortion ban passed before Roe was decided can now take effect, and Tennessee officials have already asked a court to let the state’s six-week abortion ban immediately take effect so some abortions can be outlawed sooner.
Alabama does not have a trigger ban, but a court allowed the state’s existing abortion ban to take effect Friday after previously blocking it.
Tangent
An additional four states have abortion bans on the books that could take effect again now that Roe is overturned: Arizona, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Michigan. The status of those laws is still unclear, though. West Virginia’s sole abortion clinic stopped performing abortions on Friday, but a judge has blocked Michigan’s law from being enforced, and though Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) has said he won’t enforce that state’s ban, abortions in the state have stopped in any case. In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) have said the state’s 15-week abortion ban—set to take effect in approximately 90 days—will take precedence over the pre-Roe total ban, though other Arizona Republicans have pushed back on that.
What We Don’t Know
How many other states will ban abortion, though the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute projects 26 states will ultimately outlaw or severely restrict the procedure. Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and South Carolina have six-week abortion bans that are likely to now take effect—and state officials have already asked the courts to allow that—though it remains to be seen whether the states will go even further now that they’re allowed to. Lawmakers and state officials in a number of states suggested Friday they’ll impose or strengthen abortion bans in the wake of the ruling, and the Guttmacher Institute also predicts Florida, Indiana, Montana and Nebraska will try to enact bans.
What To Watch For
What will happen as states ban abortion. Most trigger laws make performing the procedure a felony punishable by prison time, though none have laws in place that would punish the person getting the abortion. The bans are expected to send an influx of people to other states that still allow abortion, some of which—like New York and California—that have already set up abortion funds or moved forward with policies designed to prepare for a surge in patients. Leading medical organizations and journals have warned banning abortion could cause widespread harms as patients who aren’t able to go out of state potentially turn to unsafe abortion methods, however, and doctors have worried about what the bans could mean for miscarriages and other pregnancy complications given the vagueness of states’ “life of the mother” exception for abortion.
Key Background
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday, issuing an opinion in line with a draft opinion leaked by Politico that declared the landmark 1973 ruling “egregiously wrong.” The decision marked the culmination of a years-long effort by Republicans to challenge the landmark 1973 decision, as GOP politicians installed the court’s current conservative majority as Republican state lawmakers repeatedly passed abortion restrictions with an eye toward getting the court to reconsider Roe. The court decided to take up the case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, this term after Justice Amy Coney Barrett replaced the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the court, giving it a 6-3 conservative majority capable of overturning the longstanding precedent.
Further Reading
Roe V. Wade Overturned: Supreme Court Overturns Landmark Abortion Decision, Lets States Ban Abortion (Forbes)
GOP-Run States Push New Abortion Restrictions After Supreme Court Strikes Down Roe (Forbes)
