The US Supreme Court is poised to overturn the landmark Roe v.Wade decision.Currently, 43 states restrict most abortions after a certain point of pregnancy.Here’s the latest point patients can obtain an abortion in all 50 states and DC.See more stories on Insider’s business page .Sign up for our weekday newsletter, packed with original analysis, news, and trends — delivered right The US Supreme Court will is poised to overturn protections in Roe v.
Wade, a landmark 1973 decision in which the court ruled that states cannot ban abortion before the point of fetal viability, according to a draft opinion leaked last week.
The draft document, authored by Justice Samuel Alito and obtained by Politico, is the majority opinion in Dobbs v.
Jackson Women’s Health, a challenge to Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
The 2018 law has been blocked from going into effect by two federal courts.
In taking on this case, the Court will specifically rule on the question of “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on abortion are unconstitutional.” The draft opinion showed a majority of the now 6-3 majority conservative court poised to uphold the law, overturn the Roe decision, and overrule Planned Parenthood vs.Casey, a 1993 ruling upholding Roe.
Over the past decade, dozens of Republican-controlled state legislators have passed laws to severely restrict or ban abortion before fetal viability, which is generally between 24 and 28 weeks, in the hopes of bringing a case before the Supreme Court that could end Roe v.Wade.
For years, none of these or any previous first-trimester abortion restrictions states have tried to enact have formally gone into effect.But in 2021, Texas passed a six-week “heartbeat” abortion ban that withstood scrutiny in the courts thanks to its novel legal structure of outsourcing enforcement to private citizens bringing civil suits against abortion providers — a model that its neighbor Oklahoma has since replicated.
Here’s where abortion access in America stands as of right now, according to the Guttmacher Institute :
43 states restrict abortion at a certain point in pregnancy in some way, either defined in terms of weeks post-fertilization or weeks from the patient’s last menstrual period.All of those states include exceptions for threats to the life of the pregnant person and most have exceptions for their physical or general health.Four have exceptions for fatal fetal abnormalities, and both Arkansas and Utah include exceptions for rape and incest.Two states, Texas and Oklahoma, now ban abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which is around six weeks of pregnancy.16 states ban abortion at 20 weeks.
Four states ban abortions at 24 weeks of pregnancy including Florida, which has a 15-week abortion ban set to take effect in July.20 states ban abortion at the point of fetal viability, which doesn’t have a clear scientific definition.While viability varies case by case, most fetuses become viable outside of the womb after about 24-28 weeks of gestation.Virginia bans abortion at the third trimester, which begins at 25 weeks, with exceptions for the life and general health of the patient.
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe , it wouldn’t ban abortion nationwide.The US would revert to its pre-Roe status, when abortion policy was left entirely up to individual states to legislate.
To prepare for that situation, lawmakers in several Democratic-controlled states have enacted legislation in recent years that explicitly protects the right to abortion if Roe falls.
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia, including states like Massachusetts , New York, Rhode Island , and Oregon have passed laws to ensure abortion remains legal within their borders in the event that Roe does get overturned.And Vermont will vote on an amendment to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution in 2022.
New York also expanded the conditions under which a patient can receive a late-term abortion from protecting the life of the patient to the health of the patient, and re-classified abortion regulations as a public health matter rather than a criminal one.
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