How States Can and Should Protect Abortion Rights and Access

5/24/2022
by ELISABETH SMITH

For nearly 50 years, Roe v. Wade has guaranteed that abortion is legal throughout the U.S., but individual state policies have determined whether abortion care is in fact accessible or difficult, affordable or expensive, stigmatized or not. Looking ahead, individual state laws will be paramount to securing abortion rights and ensuring abortion access in the U.S.

Many states already have constitutional provisions or statutes that will ensure abortion remains legal in those states regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision. (See where your state stands in this digital tool, “What If Roe Fell?”) But the need is urgent for more protections at the state level.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/05/24/state-abortion-rights/


USA – Two New Reports on Current State Policy Trends

Two New Reports on Current State Policy Trends

Jan 2, 2019

Guttmacher policy experts have created two new reports documenting state policy trends on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights. The first report details state-level policies enacted over the course of 2018, while the second analysis—covering the years 2000, 2010 and 2019—examines the extent to which each state’s policy environment is either hostile to, or supportive of, abortion rights.

State Policy Trends 2018

Conservatives now have a clear majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, putting Roe v. Wade in jeopardy of being hollowed out or overturned. Against that backdrop, policymakers in a number of states continued to pass new abortion restrictions in 2018, including measures clearly intended to violate Roe by banning abortion at early stages of pregnancy. At the same time, more than half of all states adopted measures to expand or protect access to sexual and reproductive health care.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/guttmacher/two-new-reports-on-current-state-policy-trends-937129?e=21353f4fbc