Interstate abortion battles expected
Potential to roll back rights being felt in parts of US
The Supreme Court’s apparent intention to abolish a nationwide right to abortion, spelled out in a draft opinion leaked this week, will expand the battlefield of the nation’s most highly charged culture war, taking it to states where abortion access has long been assured.
Democrats in blue states are bracing for legal attacks and other maneuvers seeking to undermine access, and some are taking steps to enshrine the right to abortion in their constitutions.
Republican states are expected to ban or restrict abortion, but tactics also could include an aggressive effort to go beyond their borders to sue abortion providers and find other ways to punish those who assist a woman in securing an abortion.
The potential to roll back established abortion rights already has emerged in states with divided political control, including Pennsylvania and Virginia. California and Colorado are pushing to protect abortion access in their constitutions, a stronger step than passing a law. Connecticut and Washington state have already taken steps to shield providers from possible lawsuits as they anticipate women seeking abortions would cross state lines.
“We will not allow the tentacles of Texas to get into Washington state,” said Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, who vowed to make Washington state a sanctuary for those seeking abortion.
Oregon lawmakers included $15 million in their state budget to help pay for people to travel to the state to get abortions and California has a similar bill.
The rhetoric on both sides points to a growing fight over access, with anti-abortion advocates hoping to shrink the number of states where the procedure remains legal if Roe is overturned. Roughly half of U.S. states are expected to move quickly to ban or greatly restrict abortion if that happens.
A new law in Idaho, currently blocked by the state Supreme Court, would allow family members of all involved to sue abortion providers, an example of the tactics to come.
“The next chapter of the conflict is really going to be about essentially what happens with interstate conflicts,” said Mary Ziegler, a legal historian at Florida State University’s law school.
Many states with one-party control of government already have chosen their side. The handful of states with divided politics are up for grabs.
In Pennsylvania, abortion is legal under state law for the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The law’s survival is on the line in this year’s race for governor.
Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat who has vetoed recent legislation restricting abortion, is not running because of term limits. The race to replace him is between a similarly minded Democrat, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, and a primary field of nine Republicans who all say they would sign restrictions passed by the Legislature, which is likely to remain under GOP control.
One Republican candidate, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, supports a ban at six weeks of pregnancy without exceptions for rape, incest or saving the life of the mother.
“There is one way and one way only for us to ensure that women have the legal right to continue to make decisions over their own bodies in Pennsylvania and that is winning this governor’s race,” Shapiro said during a conference call with reporters this week.
The potential to undermine abortion access also is surfacing in Virginia, where Democrats lost their total hold on state government last November when Republicans flipped the House of Delegates and won the governor’s office. Democrats control the state Senate by only one vote and have one caucus member who opposes abortion and has indicated an openness to new restrictions.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin says he opposes abortion, though he has said he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest or to save a woman’s life. He said this week that it was premature to speculate on what the Supreme Court’s final decision would be or how he and lawmakers might proceed.
In Minnesota, where control of the legislative chambers is divided between the parties, two anti-abortion amendments to a health and human services bill narrowly failed on procedural votes in the Democrat-controlled House. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz vowed in an email to supporters this week that “no abortion ban will ever become law” as long as he’s governor; the Republican candidates vying to challenge his reelection bid all support a ban.
Michigan and Wisconsin, states with Democratic governors and legislatures controlled by Republicans, have pre-roe abortion bans in state law. Michigan’s governor has filed a legal challenge to the law, while Wisconsin’s attorney general, Democrat Josh Kaul, also expects litigation.
“(The) ban wasn’t just dormant,” he said. “It was unconstitutional for 50 years.”
Some deeply Democratic states are moving quickly to try to shore up abortion rights. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and top Democratic leaders in the Legislature committed to asking voters to “enshrine the right to choose” in the state constitution, steps also in the works in Vermont and Colorado.