Nobody knows when the United States Supreme Court will hand down its decision on abortion rights, but when it does, it is likely to cause a storm. Based on the decisions made by the majority conservative court in the past, it is possible that the federal abortion protections currently guaranteed under Roe v. Wade will be severely diminished or even outright overturned.
In case the court would allow states to end all abortions, half of U.S. states are expected to do just that. According to the Guttmacher Institute and the Pew Charitable Trust, abortions would be banned in many states across the South, Midwest and Western United States upon such a decision.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, this would severely limit abortion coverage for women in these areas. The next provider would be more than 200 miles driving distance away in Michigan and Georgia, more than 300 miles away in Montana and Alabama, more than 500 miles away in Texas and Florida and more than 600 miles away in Louisiana in case of the Supreme Court overturning the precedent.
In many Northeastern states and West Coast states, abortion rights are protected by state laws. Some states are currently scrambling to codify abortion rights, for example Vermont.
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The case before SCOTUS
The case the court is hearing at the moment centers around a Mississippi abortion law that outlaws abortions after 15 weeks. As part of Roe v. Wade and later Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court has established fetal viability as a standard for when abortions can be performed. This had previously set the precedent for states allowing abortions up until 22 to 26 weeks of gestational age, which is when a fetus becomes viable outside the womb. Alternatively, states have simply cited viability as a rule – a fact that the Mississippi law is now challenging.
Another possible outcome of the Supreme Court ruling could be that abortion rights will be upheld but the viability standard will fall. This would allow states to set shorter time limits on the procedure. In that case, the same states that would ban abortions can be expected to shorten the time in which an abortion is possible. A recent Texas law has set the cutoff at just six weeks of gestation, which is an example of how drastically some states want to limit abortion time frames. For now, the Texas law has an unprecedented setup, calling on citizens to enforce it, but such a workaround would become unnecessary should the Supreme Court decide to undermine Roe v. Wade.
The Mississippi law actually comes closer to abortion limits set in most European countries (at 14 weeks of gestational age or the end of the first trimester), while the Texas law is far from international standards. Six weeks of gestation equal just four weeks of pregnancy and just three weeks after a missed period.
Here’s how the ruling will likely be reacted to in every state:
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Alabama
Would ban abortion
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Alaska
Not expected to ban abortion within a year.
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Arizona
Would ban abortion
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Arkansas
Would ban abortion
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California
Abortion rights protected by law
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Colorado
Not expected to ban abortion within a year
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Connecticut
Abortion rights protected by law
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Delaware
Abortion rights protected by law
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Florida
Likely to ban abortion
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Georgia
Would ban abortion
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Hawaii
Abortion rights protected by law
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Idaho
Would ban abortion
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Illinois
Abortion rights protected by law
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Indiana
Likely to ban abortion
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Iowa
Would ban abortion
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Kansas
Not expected to ban abortion within a year
Image Credit: Tiago_Fernandez / istockphoto.
Kentucky
Would ban abortion
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Louisiana
Would ban abortion
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Maine
Abortion rights protected by law
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Maryland
Abortion rights protected by law
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Massachusetts
Abortion rights protected by law
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Michigan
Would ban abortion
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Minnesota
Not expected to ban abortion within a year
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Mississippi
Would ban abortion
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Missouri
Would ban abortion
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Montana
Likely to ban abortion
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Nebraska
Likely to ban abortion
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Nevada
Abortion rights protected by law
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New Hampshire
Not expected to ban abortion within a year
Image Credit: DenisTangneyJr.
New Jersey
Abortion rights protected by law
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New Mexico
Not expected to ban abortion within a year
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New York
Abortion rights protected by law
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North Carolina
Not expected to ban abortion within a year
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North Dakota
Would ban abortion
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Ohio
Would ban abortion
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Oklahoma
Would ban abortion
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Oregon
Abortion rights protected by law
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Pennsylvania
Not expected to ban abortion within a year
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Rhode Island
Abortion rights protected by law
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South Carolina
Would ban abortion
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South Dakota
Would ban abortion
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Tennessee
Would ban abortion
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Texas
Would ban abortion
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Utah
Would ban abortion
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Vermont
Abortion rights protected by law
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Virginia
Not expected to ban abortion within a year
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Washington
Abortion rights protected by law
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
West Virginia
Would ban abortion
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
Wisconsin
Would ban abortion
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
Wyoming
Likely to ban abortion
This article originally appeared on Statista.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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