Abortion Is Still Legal in All 50 States
If the recent wave of six-week abortion bans has left you terrified and insane, you are not alone. But it is important to remember that the laws have not changed yet; Despite increasingly stringent restrictions in many states, abortion is still a constitutional right.
Although lawmakers in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Ohio signed six-week abortion bans – and Missouri should follow suit today – none of these laws have yet come into force. In Georgia, this is not earlier than January 2020; in Alabama November 2019; Ohio and Mississippi laws go into effect in July 2019. Again: abortion is still legal everywhere, and clinics will continue to operate until they are legally or physically forced to close. If you or someone you know is in need of an abortion and are unsure of the laws, check out the Guttmacher Institute’s government guidance on abortion laws .
What’s going on in the meantime? Until these bills go into effect, you can expect legal challenges from advocacy groups such as the ACLU , Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The ban on abortion is flagrantly unconstitutional, so such cases usually lead to the blocking or annulment of the bill. Six-week abortion bans have been permanently blocked in Iowa and North Dakota, and a recent Kentucky bill has been temporarily blocked by a lower court judge, but the ruling has already been appealed .
But we are far from getting off the hook. The GOP expects these bills to be challenged; In fact, when it comes to overturning Rowe v Wade, they are strategy. Republican lawmakers have been relentlessly infringing on abortion rights over the past 40-plus years. Draconian standards for clinic operations, the elimination or severe limitation of insurance coverage, attempts to cut Title X funding for planned parenthood, requiring waiting periods and parental consent forms, transvaginal ultrasound, and increasingly shorter time frames for the actual procedure are all designed to make it as difficult to access as possible. abortion. A complete ban on abortion at the state level – and that is undoubtedly what these six-week bans and “heartbeat bills” are – the penultimate step. Enacting enough bans at the state level increases the chances of one (or more) making it to the Supreme Court, and their ultimate goal: to overturn Roe v. Wade.
So this is difficult. The good news is that abortion rights are enshrined in the Constitution, and abortion will remain legal in every state as long as these bills are successfully challenged in court. But the bad news is very bad, and the situation will not improve anytime soon. State legislatures submitted over 300 anti-abortion bills in the first three months of 2019, according to data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute. Since courts at all levels are filled with anti-abortion representatives every day, we all have very good reason to worry. Be vigilant, donate to abortion funds if you can, and know your rights.