In the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, all eyes will turn to the states, which now have the chance to set their own abortion policies for the first time in nearly half a century. There are plenty of battleground purple states where lawmakers have yet to pass abortion laws for a post-Roe era, but here’s the state of play in states that already have laws in place to protect unborn human beings.
More than a dozen states — Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming — already have laws on the books that are slated to take effect when Roe is overturned, protecting unborn children from the moment of conception, with varying levels of exceptions for cases of rape and incest or when a mother’s life is in danger.
In most of these states, the laws could take effect as soon as today, although in some cases a state official is required to certify them in order for them to take effect in the wake of Roe being overturned. In a handful of these states, the pro-life protections could take effect within five days or up to 30 days after the ruling overturning Roe.
A few other states — including Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin — have pro-life laws on the books pre-dating Roe, all of which have become enforceable in the wake of Roe having been overruled. In some of these states, abortion supporters have already begun efforts to invalidate the policies under the state constitution. In at least one, Wisconsin, pro-abortion state officials have pledged not to enforce the law.
Finally, in Georgia, Ohio, and South Carolina, there are heartbeat bills slated to take effect when Roe is overturned, protecting unborn children after their heartbeats can be detected, which usually takes place around six weeks into pregnancy. It’s worth noting that these states and some mentioned above are entangled in litigation from abortion supporters, and state officials will need to ask courts to handle those lawsuits in light of today’s ruling in order to allow their pro-life laws to take effect.
Apart from these states, there are a handful of abortion-friendly states with policies allowing abortion until birth for any reason, providing state Medicaid funding for abortions, or declaring abortion a fundamental right. They include California, Illinois, a number of states in the northeast, and a few others. The remaining states are battlegrounds, where post-Roe law has yet to be established, and now is the time for pro-lifers in those states to push harder than ever for laws that respect the dignity of every human life.