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More States Moving to Ban Early Abortions

— Two have enacted 6-week bans in the last three months

MedpageToday

State legislatures are moving to ban abortions early in pregnancy at an unprecedented rate, according to new data from the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights organization that does research on reproductive health issues.

Since Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion, state anti-abortion policymakers have enacted more than 1,200 restrictions on the procedure, Elizabeth Nash, senior state issue manager at the Guttmacher Institute, said Wednesday on a phone call with reporters. However, "in 2019, there has been a shift in the type and scope of restrictions," Nash said. "One trend is insurgent states wanting to ban abortion after 6 weeks, before people even know they're pregnant."

These very early bans "are part of a deliberate strategy to advance cases to the Supreme Court in the hope that it will overturn Roe," said Nash. "All of these efforts are about control and power."

Prior to this year, only two states -- Iowa and North Dakota -- had passed a 6-week ban, "as they were publicly focused on other restrictions like clinic regulation," she continued. But so far in 2019, Kentucky and Mississippi have already enacted 6-week bans, and four states -- Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee -- have similar bans "in process," meaning that they have passed in at least one chamber of the legislature. Six-week ban legislation has also been introduced in another seven states: Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, and West Virginia, Nash said, noting that six states currently each have only one abortion provider left.

"There is no question these bans are flat-out unconstitutional," said Helene Krasnoff, vice president for public policy litigation and law at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a pro-abortion rights and reproductive health organization. "Every 6-week ban has been stopped by the courts to date, but there are a record number of judges being nominated who are hostile to a woman's right to choose, and future judges may not be a backstop for these types of bans." Overall, there are 16 cases about abortion access in federal appeals courts right now, she added.

Just this week, a federal judge ruled that a . Nevertheless, pro-choice advocates remain concerned that when one or more of these cases reach the Supreme Court, its conservative majority will overturn Roe v. Wade and give states the authority to severely restrict abortions or ban them outright.

"The reality we live in is a terrifying one for women around the country," said Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen, MD. "Access to abortion care ... is disappearing in many states; politicians are directly interfering with medical practice and endangering women's lives."

One in four women will have an abortion in their lifetime, Wen said. "Legalizing abortion didn't create the need for it ... [In fact], right now we're at an all-time low for unintended pregnancy because of birth control and sex education. Politicians should invest in women's health; instead, what they're doing is exactly the opposite, and we know the cost: it's women's lives."

In the last 8 years, more than 420 laws have passed that directly restrict abortion access, "which has shuttered health centers and [is] leaving regions of the country as 'abortion deserts,'" said Wen. "Women have had to travel hundreds of miles for healthcare and those who cannot will go without." The women who can't travel often live in rural communities or are people of color who often face the greatest barriers to care, she added.

in Texas showed that when the state enacted abortion restrictions, healthcare was delayed and the number of second-trimester abortions increased, Wen said. In addition, "a growing number of states are enacting 'trigger bans' in which women and doctors would be criminalized the moment Roe is overturned," she said. "We must aggressively push for policies that protect and expand [abortion care]." The six states that have passed trigger bans include Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Kentucky, according to Nash, of the Guttmacher Institute.

Illinois state senator Elgie Sims (D) said he was particularly concerned with the right of teenagers to access abortion without needing parental consent. "I am a firm believer that you cannot pick and choose the fundamental rights you allow people to exercise," he said. "Women have the right to decide what to do with their body; that includes becoming a parent -- and having an abortion. We need to ensure that young people have access to safe procedures performed by medical professionals."

Sims is the lead sponsor of a that would repeal a requirement for parental consent for an abortion. He said that although he is a parent himself and understands that parents need to communicate with their children, "you cannot have an inauthentic conversation, forcing states into those parental discussions ... With the stigma of abortion, that leads to challenges, whether that's estrangement [from parents] or [threats to] a young woman's safety."

Sims said he appreciates that people have strong convictions on both sides of the abortion issue. "There is nothing wrong with having discussions that are heated -- discussions that are focused on enacting good, sound policy."