In Texas, on July 1, the state Supreme Court partially granted GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton`s request to suspend a lower court order that temporarily blocked the state`s nearly century-old ban on abortion. The order allows for civil enforcement of the ban, according to court documents. “It`s one thing to introduce and enact unconstitutional laws that you know your state can`t enforce. You can defend them, you can pass them on, you can make a lot of statements, and it can potentially grab your attention and your voices,” Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told Insider. “We are now entering a phase where the Supreme Court issues a ruling that will allow states to enforce some of these draconian laws for the first time since 1973. A spokesman for the Oklahoma City government told insiders there had been “no discussion” within the city government about preparing to enact the state`s trigger bill. Similarly, a spokesperson for the Wyoming Department of Health responded “no” to any questions from insiders about whether the department had made plans, submitted documents or had discussions about how to implement the state`s triggering bill. Indiana`s abortion ban goes into effect on Sept. 15, restricting nearly all abortions except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has asked a state court to reinstate the 6-week abortion ban, but no ruling has been made.5 Texas also has a separate 1925 abortion ban that the state`s Republican attorney general has been trying to enforce since the U.S. Supreme Court decision. As a result of these increasing restrictions, Planned Parenthood recently opened a regional logistics center in Illinois, near the Missouri border, where four full-time case managers work to ensure patients not only from Missouri, but also from Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana and beyond, have access to abortion treatments.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner also spoke out this week against “abolishing women`s right to vote.” Several Houston City Government emails obtained as part of a public inquiry illustrate frustration and disgust with the state`s abortion laws, including SB 8, a 2021 law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Abortion providers aren`t the only targets of the state`s new law. In cases of medical abortion, Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said, “Anyone who gives another person a medicated abortion pill could be subject to this criminal prohibition.” In addition to Texas criminal law, the private right of action remains. Citizens are always encouraged to report people they believe have had an abortion or participated in the process.4 After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State examines abortion laws, constitutions, and court decisions and classifies each state, territory, and District of Columbia into one of five categories: Expanded access, Protected, unprotected, hostile and illegal. Click on this tool to learn more about all the prohibitions and restrictions currently in place on the books in each state. This tool is updated in real time. In all 13 states, laws allow exceptions to protect the life of the pregnant woman in the event of a medical emergency. (Idaho, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming explicitly exclude lethal risks of mental, psychological or emotional causes.) No government agency contacted by insiders in these states has been able to create protocols on how a life-threatening risk to the pregnant patient would be defined. In June, the U.S.
Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, opened the door for states to ban abortion altogether. Just weeks after the decision, nearly all of the 13 states` trigger bans are in effect, and abortion is illegal in several states. Read more>> After the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade, states that completely ban abortion and enforce those prohibitions through criminal penalties, are labeled “illegal.” There are several hundred counties in the trigger law states — more than 250 in Texas alone. And there are already signs that district attorneys in some states will approach enforcement of abortion bans in a completely different way. A spokesman for Idaho`s attorney general, for example, said his office does not have the authority to enforce his state`s abortion ban. That authority, he said, belongs to Idaho`s 44 counties. In Utah, Third District Judge Andrew Stone granted Planned Parenthood of Utah`s request on June 27 to issue an injunction blocking the state`s trigger law. This allows abortions to continue for 14 days. The field of practice of non-physicians is regulated by state legislators and licensing committees.
In general, state law does not describe specific medical care that is within or outside a physician`s field of practice. However, many states have treated abortion differently by limiting the provision of abortions to doctors. Other states have taken proactive steps to expand the types of clinicians who can legally provide abortion care by repealing laws reserved for doctors or explicitly allowing physician assistants, certified nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, and other qualified health professionals to provide abortion care through legislation. regulations or opinions of the Attorney General. [3] See for example Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 22, § 1598(1). The law was amended to allow medical assistants and advanced practice nurses to perform abortions as well.
See H.P. 922, 129th Parl., 1st Reg. The bans have sparked a wave of legal challenges in several states. Some district attorneys who spoke to insiders did not hesitate to enforce their state`s trigger law. In Idaho, Twin Falls County Attorney General Grant Loebs said that if the triggering bill goes into effect in Idaho and a law enforcement agency sends an illegal abortion back to its office, his next step would be to consider filing a lawsuit against the provider. Since the Roe decision, the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that the Constitution protects abortion as an essential freedom linked to other freedoms to make personal decisions about family, relationships, and bodily autonomy. It is important to understand all the rights that Roe v. Wade had protected himself before his recent overthrow. Mechanism: Legislative Attorney General Certifies Lawmakers Can Ban Abortion The plaintiffs argued that the laws of both states violate the rights to “privacy, bodily autonomy, and self-determination” of the Kentucky Constitution. A hearing for an injunction to block laws during litigation has been set for July 6, according to the ACLU, which filed the case on behalf of abortion providers. Here`s where abortion “triggering laws” and other restrictive laws stand in a number of states: The “expanded access” category means that the right to abortion is protected by state laws or constitutions, and that other laws and policies have created additional access to abortion care.
With the end of nearly 50 years of federal abortion protection, more than half a dozen states rushed to ban the procedure altogether, while others imposed new restrictions. Since October 14, more than a dozen states have banned abortion. A table in an earlier version of this article incorrectly indicated which abortion ban is being challenged in a Texas state court. Abortion rights advocates are calling for a ban before Roe, not the state`s trigger ban. Wisconsin, Arizona, West Virginia, Michigan: Pre-Roe v. Abortion Bans Wade was decided in 1973 that they are again somewhat displaced to Wisconsin and Arizona — their legal status remains unclear, but many abortion clinics have halted the procedure due to uncertainty — and have been more explicitly blocked in West Virginia and Michigan. Only 13 agencies responded to insiders` request with documents of any kind. Of those, only the Texas Department of Health and Human Services responded with planning documents for trigger legislation. The Department provided two “implementation dashboards” detailing some of the milestones it needed to achieve, including updating medical regulatory rules, creating provider guides, and training licensing staff with no timelines. This story is part of a series of insider investigations investigating the decline of abortion rights in so-called “trigger law” states. It was originally published on May 7, 48 days before the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women`s Health Organization, that abortion is no longer a constitutionally protected right.
