Latest news with #DobbsDecision
Washington Post
a day ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Justice Kavanaugh explains what the injunctions ruling won't change
Landmark Supreme Court decisions sometimes don't have the results partisans fear or hope for. The 2010 Citizens United decision loosening restrictions on campaign spending was expected to help Republicans, but now Democrats spend more on political ads. The 2022 Dobbs decision finding that there is no constitutional right to abortion has not reduced the number of abortions.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Bloomberg Law: War Powers & Abortion Rights
Joshua Kastenberg, a professor at the University of New Mexico Law School and a former prosecutor and judge in the US Air Force, discusses whether the President Trump's strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, required consultation with Congress. Healthcare attorney Harry Nelson, a partner at Leech Tishman Nelson Hardiman, discusses the third anniversary of the Dobbs decision which took away the constitutional right to abortion. June Grasso hosts.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Abortion in America: 3 years after Roe's repeal, in 7 charts
Three years ago, the Supreme Court issued a bombshell ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, ending nearly 50 years of precedent that had protected abortion rights throughout the United States. 'The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion … and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,' Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. That decision marked a huge victory for the anti-abortion movement, which had worked for decades to reverse the 1973 ruling in Roe that had required all states to allow abortions at least up to the point of fetal viability — roughly 24 weeks into pregnancy. It also sparked a political and legislative frenzy as states and voters reckoned with having the power to fully regulate abortion on their own for the first time in half a century. Three years later, America is in a fundamentally different place than it was before the Dobbs decision. Beyond its direct impact on reproductive health care, the ruling also had major political implications across the country. Here are some of the things that have changed — and a few that surprisingly haven't — since Roe was repealed. The most obvious and immediate effect of Dobbs was the roll back of abortion rights in dozens of states. Thirteen states had 'trigger laws' in place that were designed to instantly impose strict new restrictions or outright bans the moment Roe was repealed. Some others had dormant anti-abortion measures still on the books that became active again once nationwide protections disappeared. Today, abortion is essentially banned, with limited exceptions, in 12 states. Another 10 states ban abortions earlier in pregnancy than the standard established under Roe. Laws in the remaining half of states either mirror Roe's fetal viability standard or have no gestational limits on abortions. We're only now beginning to understand the impact that these new bans have had. Somewhat unexpectedly, they don't appear to have reduced the number of abortions in the U.S. The best evidence we have suggests that the total has gone up since Roe was overturned. There were just over 1 million abortions in the U.S. last year, about 100,000 more than there were in 2020, according to estimates by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-reproductive rights research organization. That increase represents a break from a long-standing trend that had seen the total number of abortions per year cut nearly in half from their peak in the early 1990s. How can the implementation of strict bans in large swaths of the country not cause the number of abortions to fall? Part of the answer is that abortion access in some red states was quite limited even when Roe was in place. But the main reason is a massive surge in abortion-related travel out of highly-restrictive areas to states with more permissive laws. Last year, more than 155,000 patients crossed state lines in order to obtain an abortion, according to Guttmacher Institute estimates. That's nearly twice as many as in 2020. Roughly 70% of the abortions in New Mexico and Kansas last year were performed on out-of-state patients, mostly from Texas. There were 35,000 abortions performed on out-of-state patients in Illinois, which borders several states with strict bans. Two trends that were already in motion when the Dobbs decision came down may have also reduced the ruling's impact. The first is the growing importance of medications like mifepristone and misoprostol, which allow patients to have an abortion without undergoing a medical procedure. Medications had been an increasingly common alternative to traditional in-clinic abortions (alternatively known as procedural or surgical abortions) for years, but their use has accelerated even more since Roe was repealed. Last year, 63% of abortions were performed via medication, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The second trend is the telemedicine revolution that was spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic two years before Dobbs was decided. Like nearly all types of doctor's visits, the share of abortion-related appointments that happen virtually has skyrocketed over the past five years. By the end of 2024, a quarter of all abortions were provided by telehealth, according to the Society of Family Planning. Roe's repeal didn't just affect the total number of abortions, but its broader affects on health and fertility are still coming into focus. The limited data available does offer some hints. Research released earlier this year found that strict abortion bans do appear to have resulted in more than 20,000 more babies being born than would otherwise be expected in restrictive states, particularly among Black and Hispanic mothers and people with low incomes. But that same research found a troubling increase in infant mortality within those same groups. A separate study by the Gender Equity Policy Institute estimated that mothers in restrictive states are twice as likely to die due to pregnancy-related complications as those in more 'supportive' states. Dobbs was decided just four months before the 2022 midterm elections, instantly moving abortion up the list of most important issues in races across the country. Blowback over the ruling is credited with helping Democrats hold off a widely expected 'red wave' and maintain control of the Senate. With the status quo on abortion suddenly upended, states also had to decide what their own policies on the issue would be. That led to a wave of ballot initiatives that allowed voters, for the first time, to decide how accessible abortion should be in their states. Since 2022, there have been 14 separate state ballot measures to either protect or expand abortion access. Eleven were approved, including initiatives that repealed highly restrictive laws in Missouri and Ohio that went into effect when Roe was repealed. Several initiatives that would have rolled back abortion protections and granted lawmakers more power to restrict abortion have failed. It hasn't been a clean sweep for pro-abortion initiatives, however. Last year, voters in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota had a chance to significantly expand abortion rights in their states. All three measures came up short. The most glaring example of the limits of abortion as a political issue came in the 2024 presidential election, which saw Donald Trump win a second term even though his three Supreme Court picks provided the decisive votes to overturn Roe. The Dobbs decision clearly had an impact on American's views about abortion, but polls show that the shift has been relatively small. In a nation where elections are often decided by the slimmest of margins, that can matter a lot. But public opinion on abortion appears to have been deeply entrenched after decades of heated debate over the issue. Even after such a dramatic change in the nation's laws, polls only moved a few percentage points, leaving overall sentiment roughly where it has stood for 50 years. Three years is too short of a time period to fully understand the impact of something as monumental as Roe's repeal. Abortion opponents are continuing to push for even more restrictions, as reproductive rights supporters fight to make abortion more accessible. No doubt that the courts will have plenty of say in how those battles are decided.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Tens of thousands of women forced to travel out of state for abortion care after Roe v Wade was overturned in 2022
Tens of thousands abortion patients have been forced to leave their home states to seek abortion care three years after the end of constitutionally protected abortion access in America. One out of every seven abortion patients, or roughly 155,000 people, left their home state for abortion care last year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group. That total is slightly fewer than the 170,000 people who traveled for abortion care in 2023, but it remains a remarkable spike in abortion-related travel compared to the years before the Supreme Court's June 2022 decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v Wade and allowed states to criminalize abortion care and implement outright bans. Out-of-state travel for abortion care has virtually doubled since that ruling. Since the Dobbs decision, 13 states have outlawed abortions in virtually all circumstances, creating a patchwork of abortion access across the country, and balkanized legal constraints for patients and providers, who are shielded in some states and criminalized in others. The total number of abortions each year has also steadily increased in the wake of that decision. In 2024, 1.14 million abortions occurred in the United States, according to the Society for Family Planning. Roughly one in four abortions were performed through telehealth last year, with an average of 12,330 abortions per month performed through medication abortion, which typically requires a two-drug protocol that a patient can take at home. That's up from one in five in 2023 and one in every 20 in 2022. Medication abortion has accounted for the vast majority of abortions in recent years. Roughly 63 percent of all abortions are now medication abortions, according to Guttmacher. Mifepristone, one of two prescription drugs used in medication abortions, is approved for use by the FDA up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. From 2019 through 2020, nearly 93 percent of all abortions were performed before the 13th week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the drug is at the center of legal challenges fueled by right-wing anti-abortion activist groups who have sought to strip the government's approval and implement sweeping federal bans on abortion care. President Donald Trump's administration has also pledged to revisit the drug's approval, using spurious reporting and junk science, in an apparent attempt to undermine the basis for the government's approval. Nearly half of patients who traveled for an abortion last year came from states where abortion is outlawed — including more than 28,000 Texas residents, more than any other state, Guttmacher found. 'While these findings show us where and how far patients are traveling, they are not able to capture the numerous financial, logistical, social and emotional obstacles people face,' according to Guttmacher Institute data scientist and study lead Isaac Maddow-Zimet. In the months after the Dobbs decision, sweeping anti-abortion restrictions across the deep South and neighboring states have effectively forced abortion patients to travel hundreds of miles to reach the nearest state where abortion access was legal. Florida, surrounded by anti-abortion states, was initially a key point of abortion access in the South within the first two years after the Dobbs decision. In 2023, more than 9,000 people traveled from other states to get an abortion there, according to Guttmacher. Roughly one in every two abortions nationwide and one in three abortions in the South were performed in Florida at that time. Last year, Florida banned abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are even pregnant, and the number of patients traveling to the state for abortion care was virtually cut in half. Another 8,000 people left the state to get an abortion elsewhere, often crossing as many as three states to get there, Guttmacher found. 'It was not just Floridians who were impacted, but also the thousands of out-of-state patients who would have traveled there for care,' according to Candace Gibson, Guttmacher Institute Director of State Policy. 'The most extreme abortion bans are concentrated in the South, which makes it disproportionately difficult for people living in that region to exercise their fundamental right to bodily autonomy,' she added.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine Dems launch website targeting Collins over abortion ahead of Dobbs anniversary
The Maine Democratic Party has launched a website targeting Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) for votes she they say have caused a significant rollback in abortion rights. The release of the website, shared exclusively with The Hill, comes ahead of the third anniversary of the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned its longstanding precedent of Roe v. Wade. The ruling allowed states to make their own decisions on abortion access and has led to more than a dozen states moving to restrict access to the procedure. A video released along with the website blames Collins for her votes to confirm Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, who were part of the five-justice majority that overturned Roe. The video starts and ends with a recording of Collins announcing on the Senate floor that she would vote to confirm Kavanaugh. 'The overturning of Roe vs Wade falls squarely on Susan Collins' shoulders. Mainers recognize and remember how Collins' 'no regrets' decisive vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court — despite clear warnings of the threat he posed to Roe — led to bans on reproductive freedom nationwide, and it will cost her in 2026 when voters reject her,' said state Democratic Party spokesperson Tommy Garcia. Collins's vote on Kavanaugh in particular received significant attention as his nomination was ultimately approved in a 50-48 vote. In her message announcing her decision to vote for Kavanaugh, she expressed her belief that he wouldn't be likely to vote in favor of overturning Roe. After the court overturned Roe, Collins said the decision was 'inconsistent' with what Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said during their testimonies and in their meetings wither her. 'It's deja vu all over again—these are the same tired, rehashed attacks voters already rejected in 2020 when they re-elected Senator Collins by 9 points. Mainers didn't buy it then, and they won't buy it now,' said Collins campaign spokesperson Shawn Roderick in a statement. 'While these groups plan to spend the next eighteen months litigating the 2020 election and launching false attacks, Senator Collins continues to show up and work hard for the people of Maine. The contrast could not be more clear.' The website also notes Collins's vote against advancing the Women's Health Protection Act, which would have codified Roe into law, in 2022. The Maine Republican argued at the time that the legislation would have violated the rights of individuals and organizations who have religious objections to performing abortions and exceeded what Roe protected, striking down laws prohibiting sex-based abortions and requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortions. Collins instead pointed to the legislation she introduced, called the Reproductive Choice Act, which would restore the rights of Roe. The website also attacks Collins over votes she's taken in favor of federal judges who ultimately upheld abortion restrictions in certain states, including Stuart Kyle Duncan in Texas and Kenneth Lee from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Collins will be a top target for Democrats seeking to make gains in the Senate in 2026 after losing a few seats last year, falling to a 53-47 minority. The longtime senator, representing a state that voted for former Vice President Harris in 2024, has long been a target and was viewed as particularly vulnerable in 2020 but has repeatedly held on. She won her last election by more than 8 points. Still, this would be the first time Collins is seeking reelection following the court's overturning of Roe, giving Democrats hope that abortion rights can be a rallying point as it was in the 2022 midterms. A high-profile Democrat has yet to enter the race, but some in the state believe Gov. Janet Mills (D) may be the strongest choice if she decides to run. This story was updated at 12:50 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
