| 6.24.22

Roe v. Wade Overturned: What Happens Now?

How do you feel about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade?

What’s the story?

The Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was released on Friday, overturning Roe v. Wade and removing the constitutional right to obtain an abortion prior to fetal viability, around 23 to 28 weeks of pregnancy.

State regulations now decide when, where, and under what circumstances women can access abortions. They will be able to ban abortions entirely, or enact earlier gestational limits.
Currently, 44 states have passed at least some limits on abortion after a specified point in pregnancy, with exceptions generally to protect the mother’s life.

13 states have passed what are known as “trigger laws” that ban abortion the moment SCOTUS overturns Roe, but many require certifications and will have delays.
Seven states whose bans on abortion were ended by Roe but never removed are likely to see those pre-Roe bans reinstated, and nine states currently have unconstitutional post-Roe bans that could be brought back into effect. This includes four states with constitutions that specifically prohibit protections on abortion access.
Exceptions for abortion access in cases of rape, incest, or for the health of the mother will vary state by state. At least 11 states do not make exceptions for victims or rape or incest.
Currently, abortion will remain legal in some form in at least 16 states and the District of Columbia, which have passed laws explicitly protecting the right for women to obtain an abortion.
Track abortion policies and statistics for each state with this interactive map from the New York Times or this state-by-state guide from Politico.

Overturning Roe will now force women living in states that ban abortions to travel hundreds of miles or more to find a clinic across state lines. Evidence has already shown an increase in women traveling to other states to obtain abortions as a result of Texas’ recent ban.
This could give rise to more groups like Fund Texas Choice, a nonprofit that arranges and funds travel for women seeking abortions in the restrictive Lone Star State. Already, companies have come out saying they will help pay travel costs for employees seeking abortions in states that restrict the procedure, including Amazon, Tesla, Starbucks, Netflix and more.
However, the L.A. Times explained that “women in conservative states who couldn’t afford to travel to places where abortion was legal would be most at risk, experts in abortion law say.”

Those unable to travel for abortions could turn to doctors in their state willing to illegally perform the procedure or provide medication. More than 40 million women live in states where abortion is likely to become illegal.
Enforcement of abortion bans will depend on the lengths local prosecutors will go. HIPAA protections, which typically protect the privacy of a person’s medical information, have exemptions that may allow for the state to access medical information for law enforcement purposes.
Liberal prosecutors in at least seven states severely restricting abortion have committed to not enforcing bans, including more than 80 district attorneys in states like Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Response from abortion opponents include a bill filed in Texas for the next legislative session that would allow district attorneys to prosecute abortion law violations in areas outside their jurisdiction. In Texas, and other states that are passing similar laws, private citizens can file lawsuits against anyone suspected of performing or assisting someone in obtaining an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

Some medical and legal experts have said that overturning Roe could lead to restrictions on contraceptive health care, including birth control, emergency contraception known as Plan B, and fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization. While most forms of contraception work by preventing sperm from fertilizing an egg, some methods include a second line of defense that stops a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. In states that define the beginning of pregnancy or life as fertilization, such methods could be considered illegal. While language from the final opinion is clear that the decision to overturn Roe does not affect any rights besides abortion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should "reconsider" rulings that protect contraceptive access.
Medication abortions account for more than half of all U.S. abortions. With Roe overturned, access to this medication will become illegal in states where abortion is banned. However, the same medication is also used in cases of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies, raising questions about how states will distinguish between the use of the pills for an abortion versus a miscarriage.

This is an updated version of this Causes article.

-Casey Dawson, Josh Herman, Casey Harris