Back to the States
If Roe falls, then trigger laws, pre-Roe bans, & heartbeat laws will stop abortions
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court heard the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which many hope will overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling of 1973. Such an outcome does not mean that abortion would automatically become illegal across the United States; rather, the power to make laws on abortion would return to the 50 states. A recent NPR report (Dec. 2), using analysis by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, claims that 21 states “are poised to immediately ban or acutely curtail” abortion if Roe is overturned or weakened. A link to a summary of the analysis by LifeNews.com (Dec. 3) is below, but first some highlights:
- Twelve states currently have “trigger laws” that will prohibit abortions immediately if Roe is overturned. (The laws include exceptions if the mother’s life is at risk.) These states are: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
- Five more states have pre-Roe abortion bans that could go back into effect: Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
- Four states — Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, and South Carolina — have heartbeat laws that would ban most abortions but are currently unenforceable due to Roe.
Read more at the LifeNews link: https://www.lifenews.com/2021/12/03/at-least-21-states-will-protect-babies-from-abortions-if-roe-v-wade-is-overturned/
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