The End of Roe: Suburban Women Take a Stand

On June 24th, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had protected the federal right to an abortion for almost 50 years. The Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the Mississippi state law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks could stand. Instead of allowing women to make their own decisions about whether to have an abortion, that decision-making power now rests with state governments.

Your ability to get an abortion is now dependent on where you live and what you can afford. When Roe fell thirteen states had pre-existing “trigger laws”, intended to ban or restrict abortion if Roe was overturned. Other states had abortion laws on the books that were so old, they were written before women could vote. And many other states like Indiana and West Virginia moved quickly to enact new legislation.

Currently, 14 states have a full ban on abortion: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Georgia, Florida, Utah and North Carolina have partial bans, with some starting as early as 6 weeks. An additional 8 states have abortion bans that are currently blocked by the courts, but this can change at any time. The blocked bans are: Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina and Wyoming. Many of these bans make no exception for rape, incest or the health of the mother. A majority of the states with bans are in the southeast or midwest, making it very challenging to get abortion care in these parts of the country.

In 15 states abortion access is protected by the state constitution or state law. An additional 9 states plus Washington, D.C. have legalized abortion but the right is not protected, so changes in state government could affect reproductive rights in these states.

Less than three months after the fall of Roe, Republicans revealed their plans for a national ban. Initially, many Republicans claimed that abortion laws should be left up to the states, but in September Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a federal ban on abortions at 15 weeks, promising to pass the legislation if Republicans take over Congress.