State Battle Lines Drawn Over Abortion Control

Democratic states also prepared for the end of federal protections

Spurred by the likely end to a half-century of protected reproductive rights, Louisiana lawmakers on May 5 advanced a bill to charge a woman who has an abortion with murder.

That same day, Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee signed into law a ban against receiving abortion pills by mail, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration OK’d it with a telehealth visit. A majority of U.S. abortions are now from medication.

Also, on May 5, California lawmakers fast-tracked a bill that would block other states from imposing civil or criminal penalties on people who provide or aid abortions. Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to make his state a sanctuary for even out-of-state women.

This is the conflicting legal landscape that will only intensify if the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade is final next month. Even with majority public support for abortion rights, and little declared enthusiasm for the opinion by the GOP Congress, we are on the verge of denying half of U.S. women their reproductive rights.

Meanwhile, it is encouraging that 15 states and Washington, D.C., recognizing the direction of the activist court, have strengthened their laws to ensure women retain control over their bodies. Also, groups such as the National Network of Abortion Funds are helping pay expenses for women who must travel out of state for care.

Colorado, the first state to allow safe, legal abortion in 1967, was the latest to codify the right to have an abortion. The Reproductive Health Equity Act affirms that pregnant people in the state have the right to continue a pregnancy or have an abortion, and it blocks public entities from denying or restricting that right.

“The serious decision to start or end a pregnancy with medical assistance will remain between a person, their doctor, and their faith,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement after signing the bill on April 4.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion issues, the abortion-rights jurisdictions include:

• 4 states and the District of Columbia that codified the right to abortion throughout pregnancy without state interference.
• 12 states that permit abortion prior to viability or when necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.

On the other hand, at least 26 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, would ban or severely restrict abortion after a court ruling, Guttmacher estimates. Many laws deny exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Of these states:

• 9 retained unenforced, pre-Roe abortion bans.
• 13 passed bans to go into effect the moment the court overrules Roe.
• 9 have restrictions blocked by courts that could be revived.
• 7 have laws expressing the intent to restrict abortion to the maximum permitted.
• 4 passed constitutional amendments declaring no right to abortion.

Yet even with the increased power, the states would exercise, some anti-abortion activists and members of Congress aim for a nationwide abortion ban of six weeks, compared to the 24 weeks in Roe. Then the conservative argument for states’ rights would be rejected for a punitive federal law. To do so, however, the GOP needs to regain control of Congress.

House Democrats already passed the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would make abortion rights the law of the land. An upcoming vote in the 50–50 Senate is unlikely to succeed. The few pro-choice Senate Republicans complain the bill is too permissive, and two Democrats refuse to abolish the filibuster to allow majority rule. Democrats still seek a vote to put lawmakers on record, underscoring a push for electing more pro-chHioice senators.

It remains to be seen exactly who gains politically from the court’s opinion. But there is little doubt that women and their families will suffer as divisions within the country sharpen.

“This won’t stop with choice and the right to privacy. They are undermining progress and erasing the civil protections and rights so many have fought for over the last half century,” Gov. Newsom said in a May 2 statement.“We have to wake up. We have to fight like hell.”