On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 abortion ruling, Roe v. Wade, and immediately set off a wave of legislation across the nation. Republican attorneys general, governors and lawmakers rushed to activate trigger laws and introduce bills to ban abortion, while Democratic counterparts moved to file lawsuits and legislation against the ruling in a last-ditch effort to preserve reproductive health-care access.
As of July 19, based on data from Politico, ABC News, the Guttmacher Institute, NCSL and other news outlets, abortion access was illegal in 10 states with 13 other states’ access being severely limited or at-risk of becoming illegal soon. But the nation's abortion landscape has continued to shift in the weeks following as laws have taken effect, been blocked or delayed.
Idaho, Tennessee and Texas had trigger laws that many believed went into effect on July 24, 30 days after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. However, several judges have ruled that the 30-day period was intended to begin after the U.S. Supreme Court's certified judgment, which was issued on Tuesday, July 26. In these cases, including in Tennessee and North Dakota, the states' abortion bans will go into effect on Aug. 25.
While it seemed like West Virginia was going to be the first, on Aug. 5, Indiana became the first state in the nation to approve abortion restrictions since the Supreme Court's ruling; the ban will go into effect on Sept. 15.
Even in states in which abortion is currently legal, threats against the procedure are mounting. South Carolina recently held a public hearing to consider further curbs to ban nearly all abortions. In June, Iowa’s Supreme Court reversed a previous ruling that recognized a right to abortion under the state constitution, opening the door to further restrictive legislation.
However, there are still instances of hope for abortion rights supporters. On Aug. 2, Kansas voted against amending the state Constitution to ban abortion in the first post-Roe vote on abortion rights; voter turnout was nearly double what it had been for the last comparable primary. On Aug. 8, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts announced that there was not enough senator support to amend the state's abortion laws, rescinding the possibility of a special legislative session. Several states have had their bans blocked by legal battles, including Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming, making abortion legal in the state until a court resolves the challenges.
Abortion Definitions
Last Menstrual Period (LMP): The beginning of pregnancy calculated from the start of the most recent menstrual period. Many of the week-based bans are based on the pregnant person’s last menstrual cycle.
Medical Abortion: A procedure that uses medication to end a pregnancy and does not require surgery or anesthesia. It is safer and most effective during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Partial-Birth Abortion: A political term used to describe a medical procedure to remove fetuses from the womb known as “dilation and extraction,” which involves removing the fetus intact by dilating a pregnant woman’s cervix and then pulling the entire body out through the birth canal. The procedure is used for abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.
Physical Health: Applies only to the physical function of the patient’s body and may even be restricted to major bodily functions.
Postfertilization: The beginning of pregnancy calculated from the date of conception; 20 weeks postfertilization is equivalent to 22 weeks LMP.
Surgical Abortion: A procedure in which light suction is used to remove the fetus and placenta from the pregnant person’s womb. Also known as suction or vacuum aspiration abortion.
Trimester: The three stages of a pregnancy, each lasting between 12 and 14 weeks. A full-term pregnancy lasts around 40 weeks from the first day of a woman’s last period. Pregnancy trimesters last 14 weeks, making the second trimester begin at 15 weeks.
Viability: The point at which a fetus can sustain survival outside the uterus, which is determined based on the fetus’ developmental progress and may vary, though is typically reached between 24 and 28 weeks LMP.
Individual health-care providers may refuse to participate in an abortion procedure in 45 states. Only in five states and the District of Columbia would individual providers be required to participate, though two of those states, Alabama and West Virginia, are not abortion-friendly. Institutional health-care providers may refuse to participate in 42 states, though refusal is limited to private or religious institutions in 16. In 12 states, private insurance coverage of abortion care is limited.
But the war against abortion doesn’t stop with in-hospital, in-clinic or even in-state procedures. Pro-life advocates want to limit a pregnant person’s ability to travel to other states for reproductive care. Florida is trying to restrict telehealth abortions, though how, or if, the state will enforce the law is unclear. There are also efforts to limit access to abortion medications, which can be sent by mail, sometimes across state lines, and taken at home.
However, the repeal of Roe has galvanized states and lawmakers that do support abortion rights to enact further protections: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed a law that expanded the state’s access to abortion in anticipation of the court’s decision; New York and California have both allotted millions of dollars in funding for access and protection in their states; and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order to protect reproductive health care.
The implications of the Supreme Court decision go far beyond whether a pregnant person can access an abortion. States that are trying to, or already have, banned abortions often have lacking health-care systems that fail to support their residents much beyond pregnancy and birth. There are growing concerns over how the criminalization of abortions may interact with data privacy and employee rights. Missouri and Kansas saw a spike in voter registration after the Supreme Court’s decision, all but confirming that abortion will be a top political issue in this year’s midterm elections and that the overturning of Roe v. Wade will have significant impacts on the nation’s political landscape for years to come.
Definitions compiled from: Cornell Law, Guttmacher Institute, Mayo Clinic, NPR, Planned Parenthood, UCLA Health.
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