State Constitutions and Abortion Rights
Every state has its own constitution and courts that interpret rights, including abortion, independently of federal rulings. Use this resource to explore the current status of abortion rights through state court constitutional decisions.
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Rights Recognized
State high court found constitutional protections for abortion rights, potentially limiting restrictive legislation.
No Decisions
State courts have not made significant rulings about abortion rights under the state constitution.
Rights Denied
State high court ruled the constitution does not protect abortion rights, allowing more restrictive legislation.
Rights Undetermined
No clear state supreme court ruling on constitutional abortion protections, leaving legal status uncertain.
Decision Negated by Amendment
Voter-approved amendment overturned a previous court decision about abortion rights.
About the Map
How Have State Courts Ruled on a Right to Abortion?
Every state in the nation has a unique constitution, along with state courts free to recognize protection for rights including abortion. For decades, state courts have heard challenges to abortion restrictions and interpreted a wide range of rights — among them liberty, equality, and privacy — to uphold or strike down laws independently from federal courts.
And while the U.S. Supreme Court’s regressive decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned a federal liberty right to abortion, upending 50 years of settled law, it left untouched precedent in many states both recognizing and denying abortion rights. In the wake of Dobbs, even more state courts are deciding for the first time whether and how their state constitutions protect abortion.
State Court Abortion Decisions
Many state courts have decided challenges to abortion bans and restrictions both before and after Dobbs. Some courts have determined that their constitutions protect a right to abortion, while others have denied constitutional protections. Others have upheld or blocked laws without ruling on whether a constitutional right exists. And in a few states, voters have approved constitutional amendments that negate prior court decisions and changed the status of the state’s abortion rights.
State courts have relied on a wide range of constitutional provisions, and some limited their analyses to specific situations, such as when a patient’s life or health is at risk. State courts that have recognized abortion rights have sometimes ultimately upheld restrictions, and conversely, some courts have blocked restrictions even without finding a right to abortion.
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