The federal “right” to have an abortion in America has been officially overturned. Now, many state laws protecting abortion may be gone as well.
The historic decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was released on Friday morning, with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the two cases that established abortion as a federal right.
Thanks to a handful of “trigger laws” currently on the books in various states across the country, several states are set to automatically ban or restrict abortion. Other laws will go into effect at a later time.
According to Christopher Wilson of Yahoo News, the 13 states with trigger laws are as follows:
- Arkansas
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Wyoming
Trending:
BREAKING: As expected, SCOTUS strikes down Roe and kicks issue of abortion to the states. This will trigger tougher abortion laws in multiple states, including near bans. pic.twitter.com/b7JCbaF6LW
— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) June 24, 2022
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion think tank, as many as 26 states are “certain or likely” to ban abortion immediately, while additional states may introduce further restrictions on abortion.
In addition to states with trigger laws, five states — Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia and Wisconsin — had bans on abortion that were written into law prior to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.
Due to their “political composition, history and other indicators — such as recent actions to limit access to abortion,” four other states are “likely to ban abortion as soon as possible without federal protections in place,” according to Guttmacher.
Those states are Flordia, Indiana, Montana and Nebraska.
In the court’s decision, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the issue of abortion will be left to the states to decide.
“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
