Abortion “Trigger Bans” Take Effect in Three States Tomorrow
Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas join growing list of states where abortion is illegal
08.24.22 (PRESS RELEASE) – Tomorrow, “trigger” bans that prohibit abortion entirely will take effect in Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas, bringing the number of states where abortion is illegal to eleven. Abortion is currently available up to six weeks of pregnancy in Tennessee and Idaho, but as of tomorrow it will be outright banned. In Texas, clinics have already stopped providing abortions due to fear of lawsuits under S.B. 8 and potential enforcement of the pre-Roe ban.
In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, legal chaos has ensued in the courts as reproductive rights groups attempted to block or delay trigger bans from taking effect. As of tomorrow however, the majority of trigger bans will be in effect, with the exception of Wyoming and Utah where courts have issued injunctions blocking those bans while the cases go to trial. North Dakota’s trigger ban is set to take effect this Friday, August 26 unless it is blocked by a court. A hearing took place last week but the judge has yet to issue a ruling.
Statement from Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:
“Tomorrow, millions more people will lose abortion access across the nation as bans take effect in Texas, Tennessee, and Idaho. Vast swaths of the nation, especially in the South and Midwest, will become abortion deserts that, for many, will be impossible to escape.
Evidence is already mounting of women being turned away despite needing urgent, and in some cases life-saving, medical care. This unfolding public health crisis will only continue to get worse. We will see more and more of these harrowing situations, and once state legislatures reconvene in January, we will see even more states implement abortion bans and novel laws criminalizing abortion providers, pregnant people, and those who help them.
The vast majority of Americans support access to abortion, as we saw in Kansas. Congress must pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to protect the right to abortion in every state. Abortion is not a matter of politics or opinion, it is health care that people both want and need.”
As of August 25, abortion will be illegal in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas. People in these states who are seeking abortion care can visit www.ineedana.com to find the nearest abortion provider.
The majority of Americans support abortion access and disapprove of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. One in four women in the U.S. will have an abortion by age 45, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.
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