Which U.S. states are poised to ban abortion?
If the U.S. Supreme Court takes away the constitutional right to abortion, here are the states poised to ban it.
Read more about the Center’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
In this case, Mississippi has asked the Court to find there is no constitutional right to abortion.
If the U.S. Supreme Court takes away the constitutional right to abortion, it will mark the first time in history that the Court revokes a personal liberty right.
Such a ruling would clear the way for states to ban abortion—and there are currently 25 states poised to do so. That finding is according to the Center’s “What if Roe Fell?” interactive tool, which analyzes state laws, constitutions, and court decisions on abortion.
Anticipating a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could take away the constitutional right to abortion, anti-abortion lawmakers have been passing ever-more extreme abortion bans and restrictions. States passed anti-abortion laws at a rate higher in 2021 than in any previous year since the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973. In Texas, the state’s vigilante abortion ban has ended most abortion access after the Supreme Court refused to block it. And just last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court allowed the state’s law copycatting Texas’s ban to take effect.
U.S. Supreme Court to Rule Soon in Consequential Abortion Rights Case
Before the end of its term in June, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners challenging a Mississippi abortion ban. In this case—the most consequential abortion rights case in generations—the state of Mississippi has asked the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and rule that there is no constitutional right to abortion.
Read about the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling:
Some States Have Protected Abortion Rights and Expanded Access
While anti-abortion state lawmakers are rushing to ban or severely restrict abortion, other states have acted to protect abortion rights and access, either by enacting laws or through court rulings recognizing abortion protections under state constitutions.
The Center’s “What if Roe Fell?” tool shows 22 states—plus the District of Columbia—as having abortion protections on their books:
Where does your state stand? Or the state where your loved ones live, or where your children attend college?
Find out here: “What if Roe Fell?”
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