The Supreme Court will be voting to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion in America, according to a leaked initial majority opinion draft published by Politico and confirmed as authentic by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The draft opinion completely overrules both Roe and the 1993 Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which largely upheld Roe. Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the draft majority opinion, maintains that the right to an abortion should be in the hands of individual states.
When Roe v. Wade is likely overturned and the right to abortion left up to the states, access to abortions will change dramatically. While some states guarantee the right to an abortion, many others have “trigger bans” in place to immediately ban or greatly restrict abortion access in the event of Roe’s overturning.
What are abortion “trigger bans”?
An abortion “trigger law” or “trigger ban” is a bill passed by a state legislature that bans or restricts abortion access but is currently blocked due to Roe v. Wade. These trigger laws are designed to take effect as soon as Roe is overturned, “triggered” by the end of Roe. Some were passed by state legislatures as early as 2005, and have been waiting for the loss of Roe’s protections to be enforced.
which states have abortion trigger bans and what are they?
13 states, including Texas, currently have trigger bans in place that would ban abortion as soon as Roe is overturned. It is these states that would have an immediate effect post-Roe.
Arkansas – Arkansas has a law on the books that would ban virtually all abortions post-Roe besides those in life-threatening medical emergencies. Performing or attempting to perform an abortion would be a felony.
Idaho – Idaho’s trigger ban would make providing abortions a felony but allows for exceptions in the cases of rape, incest or the prevention of the death of the pregnant person. Idaho also passed an additional abortion ban modeled after Texas’s ban that prohibits abortion as soon as fetal cardiac activity can be detected, often around six weeks. This ban has been temporarily blocked by the Supreme Court.
Kentucky – Kentucky’s 2019 trigger law would ban abortions and make performing them a felony, with extremely narrow exceptions in the case of life-threatening medical emergencies.
Louisiana – Louisiana’s law would ban medical providers from performing an abortion or providing drugs to induce an abortion, but would not apply to serious medical emergencies.
Mississippi – Mississippi’s trigger law would ban nearly all abortions, with extremely limited exceptions in the case of rape or life-threatening medical emergencies. This ban would take effect within 10 days of the attorney general confirming the overturning of Roe. Mississippi passed an additional law that bans all abortions after 15 weeks, which is the case currently in front of the Supreme Court for which the initial draft opinion to overturn Roe was leaked.
Missouri – Missouri has a trigger law on the books that would make it a felony for medical providers to perform or induce an abortion, with exceptions for medical emergencies.
North Dakota – North Dakota’s 2007 abortion ban would make it a felony to perform the procedure except in life-threatening medical emergencies.
Oklahoma – Oklahoma’s governor signed a bill last month that would make performing or attempting to perform an abortion illegally, except in the case of saving the pregnant person’s life. A second law
lays out a timeline for the ban’s implementation based on the Supreme Court overturning Roe.
South Dakota – South Dakota’s 2005 law is a near total ban on abortions with the exception of saving the pregnant person’s life. The ban would take effect on the day Roe is overturned.
Tennessee – Tennessee’s law prohibits all abortions except those preventing the death or serious injury of the pregnant person and makes it a felony to provide one. The ban would go into effect 30 days after Roe is overturned.
Texas – Texas’s June 2021 trigger ban would make abortions illegal except in the risk of the pregnant person’s death or serious injury. The ban would also go into effect 30 days after Roe is overturned.
Utah – Utah’s trigger law bans nearly all abortions and makes performing one a second-degree felony. Exceptions are made for rape, incest, detection of severe birth defects, or preventing the death or serious injury of the pregnant person.
Wyoming – Wyoming’s law would make performing an abortion illegal, with limited exceptions for sexual assault, incest, or the risk of death or serious injury to the pregnant person.
what about other states?
Including the 13 states with trigger bans, a total of 26 states have laws currently in the books indicating that they will likely ban abortion without the protections of Roe.
Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have pre-Roe abortion bans still on the books, although it is unclear if these would be enforced.
Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina, and Ohio have passed laws limiting abortion access that would be enforced without the protections of Roe.
Additionally, Florida, Indiana, Montana, and Nebraska are classified by the Guttmacher Institute as likely to ban abortion based on the state’s political history and composition and abortion restrictions that have already been enacted.
What’s next?
The Supreme Court’s ruling on whether to uphold Roe v. Wade was originally supposed to be released in June, but with the leaking of the draft majority opinion, it is unclear whether that timeline has changed. Chief Justice John Roberts has stated that the draft is not the court’s final decision on the case. Still, as the court majority in favor of striking down Roe appears unchanged, it seems like only a matter of time until Roe v. Wade is officially overturned and trigger bans across the nation take effect.