State bills trying to gain federal ban on abortion

At an intense pace, lawmakers in Republicangoverned states are considering an array of tough antiabortion restrictions they hope might reach the Supreme Court and win approval from its conservative majority, overturning the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.

A sweeping ban already has been signed into law in South Carolina, only to be swiftly blocked by a lawsuit from abortion rights groups. Arkansas’ governor signed another ban this past week.

A batch of other neartotal bans also were blocked in the courts after their passage in 2019.

It’s not clear if or when the Supreme Court might consider any of them, or take some other path. The court could weaken Roe with approval of less drastic restrictions or even leave the core of the 1973 ruling in place.

What’s clear is that the federal judiciary changed dramatically during Donald Trump’s presidency. In addition to three appointments to the Supreme Court, giving it a 63 conservative majority, Trump made scores of appointments to federal district and appellate courts. That raises the possibility that previously rejected antiabortion measures might now be upheld.

State Rep. John McCravy, a Republican who sponsored the South Carolina ban, said Roe vs. Wade was on his mind in crafting the bill.

“This is a decision that the Supreme Court is going to need to make,” he said. “Certainly it’s encouraging to see the court changing and to see hope at the end of the tunnel.”

The South Carolina law, like several passed by other states in 2019, would ban most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

In Arkansas, the bill Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed Tuesday goes further, banning all abortions except when performed to save the life of the mother. It has no exceptions for rape or incest. Hutchinson had favored including those exemptions but signed the bill anyway as an explicit challenge to Roe.

Jennifer Dalven, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Freedom Project, suggests the Supreme Court may prefer to weaken Roe by curtailing abortion access.

“Even if Roe stays on the books, it will be harder and harder for people in the South and Midwest and Great Plains to get abortions,” Dalven said, referring to regions where Republicans generally dominate state politics. “Roberts can allow the wall to get higher and higher and yet not provoke that headline that the Supreme Court overturns Roe.“

Tom Davies / Associated Press State Rep. Peggy Mayfield, an Indiana Republican, speaks in favor of a bill to stop the abortion process in February.