Topline
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday and gave states license to ban abortion—but several states have already passed laws and constitutional provisions or have court rulings in place that will still protect the right to an abortion even if the Supreme Court doesn’t.
Activists supporting legal access to abortion protest outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, … [+]
Key Facts
Sixteen states and Washington, D.C., have some form of legal protection for abortion enshrined in state law, as compiled by the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
New York’s law states that pregnant individuals have “the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion,” while Vermont’s law states that it is intended to ensure the right to access reproductive health care is “not denied, restricted, or infringed by a governmental entity.”
Colorado, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, D.C., have the most permissive laws, allowing abortion throughout pregnancy, while other states say abortions are explicitly allowed before the fetus is viable, as is currently allowed under Roe’s ruling.
State supreme courts in Alaska, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota and Montana have ruled the right to an abortion is protected under their respective state constitutions, which would remain in effect if Roe is overturned or weakened, as state-level rulings are not affected by U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
Those precedents could be at risk, though: A similar ruling in Iowa has already been overturned, abortion rights in Kansas will be put to voters on a ballot measure in August, Republicans in Florida are already trying to challenge the court’s ruling with a 15-week abortion ban and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) said he was working with lawmakers on “next steps” in light of the federal ruling.
The Center for Reproductive Rights projected that in New Hampshire and New Mexico, abortion would likely remain legal but could be under threat if Roe was overturned, as the liberal-leaning states do not have many restrictions on abortion, but also do not yet have express legal protections for it.
What To Watch For
More protections to be enacted. California lawmakers are moving forward with a proposed constitutional amendment protecting abortion, and Vermont voters will decide in November whether their state’s constitution should be amended to add protections. More states could also enact laws that would help people in states that have banned abortion, such as legislation recently passed in Connecticut that expands the number of providers who can perform an abortion and shields residents from legal liability if they help people in states where abortion is outlawed to have the procedure. Some state leaders have already started taking action in light of Friday’s ruling: Governors in California, Oregon and Washington announced a multi-state commitment to defending abortion access, for instance, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) signed an executive order to protect abortion providers who aid out-of-state patients.
Contra
While some states will explicitly protect abortion rights, many others already have or soon will ban abortion now that the Supreme Court has issued its ruling. Thirteen states have “trigger bans” in effect that have outlawed abortion immediately or soon will: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Some have already taken effect, while others won’t take effect until state officials certify the ruling or for a few weeks after the opinion was issued. Another four states still have abortion bans from before Roe was decided that may go back into effect—Alabama, Arizona, West Virginia and Wisconsin—though Michigan’s was blocked in court from taking effect. Other states have six-week bans that will likely go into effect in Roe’s absence, as South Carolina has already asked a court to allow.
Key Background
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday, declaring the landmark 1973 ruling “egregiously wrong” and overturning it in its entirely. A draft opinion from February obtained by Politico had suggested the court would take such a drastic step, which ended up being much in line with the final opinion released by the court. The decision came in a case concerning the legality of Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, but the state also asked the court to go beyond its 15-week rule and overrule Roe entirely, as it ultimately did. The ruling comes as GOP-led states have increasingly moved to enact abortion bans ahead of the ruling, including a six-week ban in Texas that courts have left stand—and other states are now copying—and multiple measures that effectively ban abortion entirely in Oklahoma.
Further Reading
Roe V. Wade Overturned: Supreme Court Overturns Landmark Abortion Decision, Lets States Ban Abortion (Forbes)
Roe V. Wade Overturned: Here’s When States Will Start Banning Abortion — And Which Already Have (Forbes)
What If Roe Fell? (Center for Reproductive Rights)
Abortion Policy in the Absence of Roe (Guttmacher Institute)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/06/24/supreme-court-new-case-dobbs-v-jackson-could-threaten-roe-v-wade-here-are-the-states-with-abortion-protections-if-its-overturned/