Following Friday’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing the absolute most extreme abortion bans to go into effect, here’s the state of play.
Abortion is banned (with exceptions for the life of the mother) in:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Utah
In 10 days, on July 7, abortion will be banned in Mississippi after state Attorney General Lynn Fitch certified the state’s trigger law.
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RELATED STORY: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending abortion rights for millions
Within 30 days, the list will include:
- Idaho
- North Dakota
- Tennessee
- Wyoming
There’s been a lot of movement already since Friday.
In four states, abortion bans passed before the Supreme Court’s action and stayed by the courts are likely to go into effect soon:
- Georgia
- Iowa
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
Indiana Republicans are expected to pass new abortion restrictions or a ban during a summer special session.
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The Kansas Supreme Court has affirmed a right to abortion, but Republicans are pushing a constitutional amendment banning abortion. A statewide vote will be held in August.
Florida and Arizona have 15-week abortion bans on the books, but Republicans might come back for more. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin is working on a 15-week ban.
In Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Democratic governors who are currently preventing Republican state legislatures from passing new anti-abortion laws will be up for reelection in November. Sometimes it’s a cliche, but abortion rights literally are on the ballot in those states.
It’s noteworthy the extent to which the states with the harshest abortion bans are also the states that have shown how little care for life their governments have. Of the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid, three have already banned abortion. One will have banned it in 10 days. Another two will have banned it within 30 days. Another two are expected to have abortion bans in effect within weeks. Another one has a 15-week ban.
The state with the highest maternal mortality, Louisiana, has an abortion ban in place. The second-worst state, Georgia, has a ban expected to go into effect soon. The third-worst state, Indiana, is expected to put new restrictions into place over the summer. The fifth- through eighth-worst states for maternal mortality have already banned abortion. These states are literally sentencing birthing people to death, and we know it will be worse for Black people.
Six of the 10 states that have already banned abortion are stuck at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour—a poverty wage for an adult, let alone one with a child. And abortion bans have serious economic consequences. “Some of the economic consequences of being denied an abortion include a higher chance of being in poverty even four years after; a lower likelihood of being employed full time; and an increase in unpaid debts and financial distress lasting years,” the Economic Policy Institute’s Asha Banerjee writes.
And the five states with the highest firearm mortality rates all have abortion bans in place or will within 30 days. Tell me again about the sanctity of life.
About those life-of-the-mother exceptions in many of these states: They’re virtually useless. They’re vague, and the abortion bans intimidate doctors away from invoking them. Even in an emergency situation, a pregnant person is likely to face a dangerous amount of hesitation. Texas has already shown how treatment for ectopic pregnancies—which are immediately life-threatening and are not viable pregnancies—has been gutted, along with miscarriage care.
For that matter, the rape and incest exceptions that the vast majority of people in this country support but that Republicans haven’t included in their bans are also virtually useless, since they typically require a police report or more, which is a lot to ask of someone pregnant by rape under the best circumstances—and simply not realistic for many victims.
This is a moral and human disaster, and it’s only getting worse in the near future. Reversing the damage will be the work of a generation—unless Democrats expand the Supreme Court to get it done faster.
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Ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage are bad enough. Abortion bans make them worse
'A ban on abortion increases maternal mortality by 21% … Black women face a 33% increase'
