Can a state make it a MURDER offense if one of its citizens goes out of state for an abortion?

[malthaussen]

7. That's two questions in one.

The fact of democracy is that any legislature can write any damned bill it pleases, and if it gets the votes and the signature of the executive, then it it is law. So, yes, a state could make such a law.

Would it stand up in the courts? That's the second, implicit question. And the fact of that is that a judge can make any damned ruling he pleases, he is a little tyrant in his court. So, if a challenge to such a law went before a judge interested in enforcing it, it would not be reversed. That's why we have an appeals process. The earnest hope is that bad law will not survive the scrutiny of all levels of courts (progressively removed from the jurisdiction in which the law applies), but will at some point be overturned by saner heads. Which is, ultimately, why the US Supreme Court is expected to be apolitical.

There's another implied question here, too: would such a law be created by a State legislature and signed into law? That's a predictive question, so your guess is as good as mine.

-- Mal