If the Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade decision 49 years ago, it is expected that up to 26 states, or about half of the United States, will promptly ban or more severely limit abortion. A major reproductive advocacy group.
That prediction from the Guttmacher InstituteRenewed attention on Tuesday, published last fall, the first draft of the Supreme Court’s decision was leaked, Roe’s related decision was overturned, and the constitutional right to abortion was eliminated.
Supreme Court Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft reported by Politico. This is not a formal court decision, at least for now.
However, abortion advocates and Democrats are afraid that the court will soon issue a similar opinion. It will also allow individual states the freedom to regulate abortion without federal court oversight.
Elizabeth Nash, Interim Deputy Director of State Affairs at the Guttmacher Institute, said:
Nash says 36 million women of reproductive age live in 26 states that Guttmacher expects or may expect to have an abortion automatically. rice field.
These states are concentrated in the South, Midwest, and Far West.
Roe v. Wade: Distance traveled by people seeking abortion
Guttmacher Institute
They include Texas and Florida, which account for nearly 15% of the more than 862,000 abortions nationwide in 2017.
Mr Nash said abortion was banned in nine states prior to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in the Roe v. Wade case.
The Roe v. Wade case banned a total ban on abortion. The state said abortion could only be banned in late pregnancy, only if it allowed an abortion exception to save the life of the mother or to protect her health.
The nine pre-row ban states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Nash also said that the 13 states on the list have passed so-called trigger legislation that bans abortions or further limits abortions if Roe capsizes.
These states are Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
Nash said that some of the states on Guttmacher’s state list, such as Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, which will ban or severely limit abortion, have governors who support the right to abortion, along with other factors. , Said he might not.
Nash said one in four American women would have an abortion in their lifetime.
“It means that abortions are incredibly common, and when you see the state start banning abortions, it means they are denying access to people’s health care. It means, “Nash said.
For Gut Macher Interactive map On that website, how many women in a particular state need to drive on average to get an abortion under current law, and what if a ban is enforced in their home state. Only indicates if you need to drive.
In Idaho, the current average mileage is 21 miles one way. If abortion is totally banned in the state, it will increase to 250 miles.
In Texas, which last year passed a law banning abortions six weeks after pregnancy, the average distance a woman must drive to have an abortion is 17 miles one way. If a total ban is adopted there, it will increase to 542 miles one way, as it would be considered certain if Roe reverses.
“There is already some waiting time in some areas,” Nash said as a result of the new Texas law. [abortion] Clinics will increase to 3 and 4 weeks. “
“Imagine what would happen to access to the clinic if more states banned abortions,” Nash said.
According to Guttmacher data, more than 55,400 abortions occurred in Texas alone last year, when statistics were available.
