Multiple states in the United States have banned or restricted abortion following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade on Friday.
Laws banning or seriously restricting abortion have immediately gone into effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah after the Supreme Court’s ruling. The high court’s decision put an end to 50 years of constitutionally protected abortion, handing the power back to states to legislate for themselves.
The states above already had “trigger laws” in place — legislation which would go into effect by default should Roe ever fall. Under the trigger laws, performing an abortion is a felony punishable by years-long prison sentences. Women cannot be prosecuted under the laws for having an abortion.
States where abortion in now already banned:
Arkansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Missouri
Oklahoma
South Dakota— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 25, 2022
13 states have abortion trigger laws on their books; Trigger laws went into effect immediately in at least 11 states at 9am on Friday, with other states yet to implement the legislation banning abortions. In total, 26 states have laws that indicate they could outlaw or set significant limits on abortions, effectively banning abortion in those states, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Here’s a rundown of the US states which have banned or restricted abortion so far:
In Alabama, all abortion facilities have closed. The director of a Women’s Health Centre tweeted that as a result of Friday’s ruling, the abortion facility was sending women who had booked abortions there out of the state. “No more legal abortion in Alabama”, she added.
https://twitter.com/robinmarty/status/1540344773457989635
Who’s NEXT? Let’s Go! https://t.co/7iNgY76vp8
— Virgil L. Walker (@VirgilWalkerOMA) June 25, 2022
In Arkansas, the abortion provider also said it would not be able to perform abortions. Planned Parenthood said: “Arkansas abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood Great Plains, are no longer able to offer abortion in the state. And Arkansans will now be forced to travel hundreds of miles, hours from their homes, for essential health care.”
Kentucky, another state with trigger laws on the books, abortion has been largely outlawed. Lawmakers in the state had been preparing for Roe to collapse since 2019, when the Kentucky legislature passed a trigger law set to go into effect automatically. The law makes it a Class D felony for anyone to carry about abortion in the state.
In Arizona, Planned Parenthood wrote online that it would be pausing abortion services. The abortion provider said: “Because Arizona’s legal landscape is complex, PPAZ will pause abortion services at this time to protect our staff and patients.” An announcement was also published on the group’s Facebook page, that read, “Planned Parenthood Arizona has made the difficult decision to pause abortion services because of the complex legal landscape in our state.”
In Louisiana, the Department of Health sent out a letter to all three of the abortion facilities in the state, informing them of the Court decision, adding that the Department anticipates the abortion facilities to obey the laws of the state on abortion. There have been reports that all three of Louisiana’s remaining abortion businesses have closed their doors.
The US Supreme Court overturned Roe. Abortions are banned in Louisiana with very few exceptions.
Here's what I know:
– All 3 clinics in Louisiana have stopped providing abortions. The NOLA clinic is advising patients to go to Colorado or California.— Rosemary Westwood (@rosiewestwood) June 24, 2022
Missouri’s AG Eric Schmitt tweeted, “With the Dobbs decision just handed down and a stroke of my pen — Missouri became the first state to effectively end abortion and has become the most Pro Life state in America.”
In Oklahoma, the state’s trigger law banning abortions also came into effect immediately on Friday.
JUST IN: Oklahoma bans abortions effective immediately.
— Stacy Rae 🇺🇸 (@stacyhrae) June 24, 2022
Reuters reported on an “empty abortion clinic” in the state.
“The sound of fingers on keyboards and an occasional moving office chair are all you will hear at Tulsa Women’s Clinic in Oklahoma these days,” The Reuters report read.
Since late May, Planned Parenthood in Oklahoma is no longer performing abortions, according to its website. A June 7 report by PBS news said that: “[A]bortion providers here in the state have effectively ended abortions. They are not providing them right now. The four clinics in the state stopped them, both medical and surgical abortions. Planned Parenthood operates two clinics here in the state, and they actually stopped providing abortions after the six-week ban went into effect in early May.”
Abortion is now illegal in South Dakota, with the state’s long-pending trigger law officially in effect. The trigger law has been on the books since 2005 – finally coming into effect at 9AM on Friday.
The law reads: “Any person who administers to any pregnant female or who prescribes or procures for any pregnant female any medicine, drug, or substance or uses or employs any instrument or other means with intent thereby to procure an abortion, unless there is appropriate and reasonable medical judgment that performance of an abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant female, is guilty of a Class 6 felony.”
Texas is another state which is set to ban almost all abortions – however it us unclear when the state’s trigger law will take effect. In 2021, the state passed a trigger law, the Human Life Protection Act, that would restrict abortions within 30 days of any high court ruling handing back the power to states to outlaw abortions. Under the legislation, anyone who carries out an abortion or helps provide an abortion could be charged with a first-degree felony and a penalty of $100,000.
In a statement posted online, Planned Parenthood South Texas wrote, “Due to the recent Supreme Court ruling, we have paused abortion services while we review with legal counsel to understand what it means for abortion access in Texas.”
Meanwhile, in Mississippi, the business at the centre of the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health organisation, the state’s only abortion business, will reportedly remain open – but until 4th July. Sky News reported that “Mississippi’s last abortion clinic faces rush of women trying to beat deadlines of biology and of law”. The one remaining abortion business functioning in the state will be forced to close within days once the governor sings the law to ban abortion.
“In the surrounding states – Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky – all clinics have already closed,” Sky News noted.