It has been a year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, giving the individual states the power once again to legislate abortion access. And a year on, over a dozen states have done just that. The latest on the list is North Carolina, where a 12-week ban goes into effect on July 1. It’s here we find Vice President Kamala Harris preparing to give a speech today, June 24, to draw attention to the Republican efforts to ban abortion. Well, luckily for her, that shouldn’t take much work; people have noticed. A much harder task for the VP, perhaps, would be doing anything to stop it.
Harris’ North Carolina speech isn’t the only big anniversary event – or even the first. Call it Abortion Week, if you will. First Lady Jill Biden kicked it off with a roundtable conversation at the White House with women who claim to have been denied “medical care” – elective abortions, presumably, since that’s the only class of “care” that has been banned in any state due to the Dobbs decision. President Biden and VP Kamala Harris joined the DNC Friday in Washington for an event with Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and EMILY’s List, a who’s who of pro-abortion giants.
Abortion in a Post-Roe America
Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision in June of 2022, 15 states have enacted abortion restrictions so strict they ban nearly all elective abortions. Six of those – Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, and South Dakota – had trigger laws that took effect the day Roe fell.
Though all states allow abortion when it’s a medical necessity to save the life of the pregnant woman, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin all prohibit elective abortion at any point in the pregnancy. Georgia’s six-week abortion ban is almost as strict as the others, as many women don’t find out they’re pregnant until this point or later. Many states also include exceptions for rape or the presence of a fatal fetal anomaly.
Nebraska allows abortion up to 12 weeks, both Arizona and Florida have 15-week bans - though the Sunshine State's new six-week ban could take effect soon, depending on how the FL Supreme Court rules - and Utah allows it up to 18 weeks.
A few other states fall into the “legal for now” category, as they either have stricter laws in the works or that have passed but are blocked by court action. Several more – including California, which many might have assumed protected abortion throughout the pregnancy – keep the practice legal until “viability,” as was the norm throughout the Roe era.
While everyone is focused on the states with bans, however, several have gone in the opposite direction. Alaska, Colorado, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont all protect unfettered abortion access throughout the entire pregnancy – in some cases, by state constitutional amendment.
Who’s Winning the War?
The Biden administration’s focus on the fall of Roe v. Wade indicates abortion will remain a top issue for the Democratic Party going into the upcoming elections. But looking at the numbers, the anti-abortion movement has the upper hand. Elective abortion is either banned or heavily restricted in more than twice as many states as it is protected for the duration of the pregnancy.
And a year on, the results are clear. Abortions declined by 6% in the first six months after Dobbs, according to an analysis from the Society of Family Planning – and that’s after counting the rise in prescriptions of abortion drugs by virtual clinics. That comes out to about 32,000 fewer babies aborted from July 2022 to December 2022. Unlike the so-called common-sense gun laws championed by progressives, the abortion restrictions do seem to be saving lives.
