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States Aren't Waiting for the Supreme Court to Tighten Abortion Laws
Hat tip, SCOTUSblog: More News
WHAT WE'RE READING
The morning read for Tuesday, March 8
By James Romoser on Mar 08, 2022 at 10:20 am
Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. To suggest a piece for us to consider, email us at roundup@scotusblog.com.
Here’s the Tuesday morning read:
States Aren’t Waiting for the Supreme Court to Tighten Abortion Laws (Kate Zernike, The New York Times)
{snip}
The morning read for Tuesday, March 8
By James Romoser on Mar 08, 2022 at 10:20 am
Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles, commentary, and other noteworthy links related to the Supreme Court. To suggest a piece for us to consider, email us at roundup@scotusblog.com.
Here’s the Tuesday morning read:
States Aren’t Waiting for the Supreme Court to Tighten Abortion Laws (Kate Zernike, The New York Times)
{snip}
States Aren’t Waiting for the Supreme Court to Tighten Abortion Laws
In anticipation of the court’s decision, a frenzy of legislative activity to shut down access to abortion forms a picture of a post-Roe America.
By Kate Zernike
March 7, 2022
Both sides of the abortion debate anticipate that come July, the Supreme Court will have overturned Roe v. Wade and with it the constitutional right to abortion, handing anti-abortion activists a victory they have sought for five decades. But from Florida to Idaho, Republican-led state legislatures are not waiting: They are operating as if Roe has already been struck down, advancing new restrictions that aim to make abortion illegal in as many circumstances as possible.
Under Roe, states cannot prohibit abortion before a fetus is viable outside the womb — around 23 weeks into pregnancy. But bills moving through legislatures are outlawing abortion entirely, or at six, 12 or 15 weeks of gestation. On Thursday, Florida passed a 15-week ban even as opponents warned it was unconstitutional so long as Roe stands. In Oklahoma, a Senate committee approved a bill that would prohibit abortion starting 30 days after the “probable” start of a woman’s last monthly period.
Some states are trying to ban or limit pills that induce abortion, which supporters of abortion rights had hoped would provide a safe and legal workaround. Several states have advanced laws like the one the Supreme Court allowed to take effect in Texas that puts enforcement in the hands of private citizens. Texas allows lawsuits against anyone — from an Uber driver to a doctor — who knowingly “aids or abets” a woman getting an abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, rewarding $10,000 plus legal fees for successful suits. On Thursday, the Idaho Senate passed a bill that would award a minimum of $20,000 to family members who sue, including “a sibling of the preborn child.”
The frenzy of activity in state legislative sessions over the past two months offers a glimpse of a post-Roe America, when the Supreme Court would return the question of abortion rights to the states. While some states closer to the coasts — California, Vermont, New Jersey among them — have moved to enshrine a right to abortion, far more are trying to restrict it.
{snip}
In anticipation of the court’s decision, a frenzy of legislative activity to shut down access to abortion forms a picture of a post-Roe America.
By Kate Zernike
March 7, 2022
Both sides of the abortion debate anticipate that come July, the Supreme Court will have overturned Roe v. Wade and with it the constitutional right to abortion, handing anti-abortion activists a victory they have sought for five decades. But from Florida to Idaho, Republican-led state legislatures are not waiting: They are operating as if Roe has already been struck down, advancing new restrictions that aim to make abortion illegal in as many circumstances as possible.
Under Roe, states cannot prohibit abortion before a fetus is viable outside the womb — around 23 weeks into pregnancy. But bills moving through legislatures are outlawing abortion entirely, or at six, 12 or 15 weeks of gestation. On Thursday, Florida passed a 15-week ban even as opponents warned it was unconstitutional so long as Roe stands. In Oklahoma, a Senate committee approved a bill that would prohibit abortion starting 30 days after the “probable” start of a woman’s last monthly period.
Some states are trying to ban or limit pills that induce abortion, which supporters of abortion rights had hoped would provide a safe and legal workaround. Several states have advanced laws like the one the Supreme Court allowed to take effect in Texas that puts enforcement in the hands of private citizens. Texas allows lawsuits against anyone — from an Uber driver to a doctor — who knowingly “aids or abets” a woman getting an abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, rewarding $10,000 plus legal fees for successful suits. On Thursday, the Idaho Senate passed a bill that would award a minimum of $20,000 to family members who sue, including “a sibling of the preborn child.”
The frenzy of activity in state legislative sessions over the past two months offers a glimpse of a post-Roe America, when the Supreme Court would return the question of abortion rights to the states. While some states closer to the coasts — California, Vermont, New Jersey among them — have moved to enshrine a right to abortion, far more are trying to restrict it.
{snip}
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