The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday and gave states the right to ban abortion. Several states have already passed laws and constitutional provisions or have court orders in place that will protect the right to abortion.
Main facts
- Sixteen states and Washington, DC have some form of legal abortion protection enshrined in their laws, as compiled by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine , Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
- New York law states that pregnant women have “the fundamental right to choose whether to carry their pregnancy to term, give birth to a child, or have an abortion,” while Vermont law states that it is intended to ensure that the right of access to reproductive health care is “not denied, restricted or infringed by any governmental entity”.
- Colorado, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington DC have the most permissive laws, allowing abortion throughout pregnancy, while other states say abortions are explicitly permitted before birth. fetus is viable, as permitted by the Roe decision.
- The state supreme courts of Alaska, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota and Montana have ruled that the right to abortion is protected by their respective state constitutions, which would remain in effect if the Roe decision was overruled or weakened, as decisions made at the state level are not affected by decisions of the United States Supreme Court.
- These precedents, however, could be threatened: a similar decision in Iowa has already been overturned, abortion rights in Kansas will be put to voters in a ballot in August, Republicans in Florida are already trying to challenge the Court’s decision. banning abortion at 15 weeks and Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said he was working with lawmakers on “next steps” in light of the federal decision.
- The Center for Reproductive Rights predicted that in New Hampshire and New Mexico abortion would likely remain legal but could be threatened if the Roe ruling is overturned, as these liberal-leaning states do not have many restrictions on abortion, but also do not yet have explicit legal protections for it.
What to watch out for
The implementation of new protections. 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. Other states could also pass laws that would help people living in states where abortion is banned, such as the law recently passed in Connecticut, which expands the number of providers who can perform an abortion and protects residents from liability. legal if they help people living in those states. Some state leaders have already begun to take action in light of Friday’s decision: for example, the governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced a multi-state commitment to uphold the right to abortion, and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed an executive order to protect abortion service providers who assist out-of-state patients.
While some states will explicitly protect the right to abortion, many others have already banned abortion or will soon do so now that the Supreme Court has issued its ruling. Thirteen states have “trigger bans” in effect that either banned abortion immediately or will soon: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Some have already gone into effect, while others will not take effect until state authorities certify the decision or a few weeks after the notice is published. Four other states still have abortion bans from before the Roe decision that could come back into effect – Alabama, Arizona, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The context
The Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, declaring the landmark 1973 ruling to be “demonstrably wrong” and reversing it entirely. A draft decision from February, obtained by Politicohad hinted that the Court would take such a drastic step, which ended up matching the final decision released by the Court.
Article translated from Forbes US – Author: Alison Durkee
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