WASHINGTON – A bomb statement showing that the Supreme Court could overturn the remarkable 1973 Rowe v. Wade ruling, rocked Washington and the nation, and prompted Democrats and abortion advocates to warn about the future of access to abortion in the United States.
Such a Supreme Court ruling, if final, would end the 50-year-old abortion precedent and put state-level officials in the driver’s seat to determine access to abortion, leading to a set of laws that vary accordingly. where a person lives. The Supreme Court confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion in a statement Tuesday morning, but stressed that it did not represent the final position of any member on the issue, which includes a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Received and published by Politico late Monday, the draft opinion was written by Judge Samuel Alito and distributed to judges in February. The document shows that the majority of the Supreme Court voted to repeal Rowe, although judges can – and have changed their votes after the drafts were exchanged. The Mississippi Supreme Court is expected to rule by the end of the court’s term in late June or early July.
“Rowe was extremely wrong from the start,” Alito wrote, adding: “It is time to listen to the constitution and return the issue of abortion to the elected representative.”
In Roe’s ruling, the court ruled that the Constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion before the fetus is viable outside the womb, usually around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Roe’s repeal and the 1992 case, which upheld his decision, will allow states to set their own restrictions or protections on abortion.
A number of Republican-led lawmakers have already taken action to ban access to abortion by passing laws banning abortion at various stages of pregnancy. Meanwhile, Democrat-led states have acted to protect abortion rights. And actions at the state level on the issue of abortion are carried out not only in state legislatures across the country, but also in their own courts.
An analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, found that 23 states have book laws that could be used to restrict abortion rights if the Supreme Court overturns or weakens Rowe as of May 1.
Here’s where the states stand in terms of access to abortion:
Countries with “trigger” laws.
Thirteen states have so-called “trigger” laws that would limit abortion if Rowe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. Some U.S. laws will take effect immediately after a Supreme Court ruling, while others will take effect after 30 days.
In several cases, the bans take effect after the Attorney General or another official certifies that the Supreme Court’s decision overturns Rowe, but that can only take days after the court’s decision.
Nebraska lawmakers tried to pass a ban this year, but failed in the U.S. Senate in April.
States with six-week bans
Proponents of abortion rights are pushing states to pass legislation banning the procedure once an embryonic heartbeat is detected after about six weeks of pregnancy. Eleven states did so, although almost all measures were blocked: Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Only the Texas law is in force, as the Supreme Court last year refused to block its implementation. The measure has a new enforcement mechanism that instructs private citizens, not civil servants, to enforce it by filing lawsuits in a state court against anyone who performs an abortion or “assists or assists” them. Its design has inspired accounts in other GOP-led states that reflect the Texas measure.
State with an eight-week ban
In 2019, Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons, a Republican, signed a law that made abortions illegal eight weeks after the pregnancy. A federal district court blocked the measure from taking effect, and a panel of three judges at the 8th U.S. District Court of Appeals refused to overturn the lower court’s order. The full 8th round heard arguments in the challenge to the law filed by Planned Parenthood last year.
States with 15-week bans
In Florida, a 15-week ban was signed in April and takes effect on July 1. The Mississippi Act, passed in 2018, is at the center of the dispute, which is currently before the Supreme Court.
The 15-week Louisiana measure was signed in 2018 by Democratic Gov. John Bell Edwards, although it will only take effect if the Mississippi law is confirmed.
In Kentucky last month, the state legislature overturned Gov. Andy Bechair’s veto on a bill to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. But a U.S. district court granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary restraining order, blocking the bill’s entry into force.
States with 20-week bans
Four states have books banning abortions after 20 weeks: Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska and North Carolina.
In Montana, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a law banning abortion 20 weeks after last week, but a state court judge blocked the measure from two other abortion laws in October.
Countries with abortion bans that were before Rowe v. Wade
In addition to newer laws in the books that impose restrictions on when abortions can be performed during pregnancy, nine states have laws passed before the 1973 Roe decision that have never been repealed.
These states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
In Michigan, however, Gov. Gothen Whitmer, a Democrat, is preventively prosecuting 13 district attorneys with abortion clinics in their jurisdictions in an attempt to circumvent the 1931 state abortion ban before Rowe.
States with the right to abortion enshrined in their constitutions
The highest courts in 10 states have recognized the right to abortion under their respective constitutions, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. The state’s constitutional protections ensure that abortion will remain legal even after the Supreme Court’s decision to change Rowe.
Some of these states, such as Florida, have passed laws restricting access, while others, such as Montana, have had temporary restrictions on abortion.
The 10 states are Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana and New Jersey.
Efforts are being made in Iowa to overturn a state Supreme Court ruling protecting the right to abortion. This decision is expected in the next few months. If the decision is overturned, the Iowa Republican-controlled legislature and the governor have signaled they will take steps to further restrict access to abortion.
In Kansas, an amendment to regulate abortion went to the polls in August, and Michigan’s abortion rights groups also began voting to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution.
States with laws protecting the right to abortion
While many Republican-led states have passed laws restricting access to abortion, Democrat-led states have worked to preserve abortion rights. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have taken such steps: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont.
The battle for abortion
More More Sarah Yuol-Weiss
CBS News reporter covering economic policy.
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