When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, stripping us of our federal constitutional right to abortion, it opened the floodgates for states to ban abortion. But while some states have banned or restricted abortion, leaders in other states have stepped up to expand access and protect patients and providers.

We can't protect, restore, and expand access to abortion unless we stay informed and stay active.

Here's your quick guide to some of the proposed state laws lawmakers are debating right now in state houses across the country.

 Victories

These efforts to protect access to abortion have already succeeded or taken big steps forward in early 2023. A few victories we're celebrating:

• Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz recently signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act (PRO Act) into law. The PRO Act codifies into state law Minnesotans' right to make their own reproductive health care decisions, including the right to contraception, the right to carry a pregnancy to term, the right to fertility treatment, and the right to an abortion.
• Last month, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted the Patient and Provider Health Act. This law does a lot of great things: It aims to protect providers of abortion and gender-affirming care from aggressive out-of-state lawsuits and formally codifies the ability of advanced practice clinicians to provide additional types of abortion services. It also creates a pathway for out-of-state medical staff to quickly become licensed to provide reproductive health care in Illinois.
• In Virginia, the Senate defeated all proposed anti-abortion bills, including a total ban and a 15-week ban pushed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Virginia lawmakers also introduced a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights in state law.
• The New York legislature passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), bringing the amendment to New Yorkers to ratify in November 2024. The ERA would prohibit discrimination by the government based on a person's ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex — including their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes.

 

 Opportunities

Lawmakers in several states have introduced bills to protect and expand access to reproductive health care. Advocates like you can help build support for efforts like these:

• A New Hampshire Senate committee held a hearing on legislation to enshrine the right to abortion access into state law. A constitutional amendment resolution to establish a state right to birth control has also been introduced.
• A House committee in Vermont recently held a hearing on legislation that seeks to protect providers and patients from criminal and civil penalties for offering or accessing legally protected health services, including abortion and gender-affirming care.
• Michigan Sen. Erika Geiss has introduced legislation that would repeal the state's 1931 criminal abortion ban.
• In Rhode Island, lawmakers are moving forward with legislation that would allow the state's Medicaid and public employee insurance programs to cover abortion.
• North Carolina legislators in both the House and Senate have introduced bills to enshrine abortion protections in state law.
• Connecticut lawmakers have introduced one bill to allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control and another to allow emergency contraception to be sold and dispensed via vending machines.

 

 Threats

Bans have already eliminated abortion in thirteen states and lawmakers are advancing even more attacks on reproductive health and rights. Here are some bills we're watching:

• In Idaho, lawmakers have introduced the first abortion-specific bill targeted at minors traveling for care this session — attempting to make it more difficult for young people to access abortion care without parental consent and suggesting that lawmakers want to limit access to care even outside of Idaho state lines.
• Nebraska lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and give a tax credit to people who donate to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. The abortion ban bill currently includes an emergency clause that would make it effective as soon as it is signed by the governor.
• Just months after Kansas voters resoundingly rejected an anti-abortion constitutional amendment, lawmakers have introduced several new abortion restrictions.
• Utah banned gender-affirming care for minors in the state. Lawmakers are advancing legislation that would allow them to attempt to overturn court rulings they disagree with — like the preliminary injunction currently blocking the state's trigger ban.
• The West Virginia House passed a bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors after dozens of community members and medical professionals spoke out against it. The bill now heads to the Senate.
• Missouri lawmakers are also advancing numerous attacks on LGBTQ+ youth, including the state's own version of a “Don't Say Gay” bill and a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
• Oklahoma lawmakers are pushing more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including bans on gender-affirming care, as well as several abortion restrictions — including one that could criminalize abortion patients.
• Lawmakers in South Carolina are rushing to pass a near-total abortion ban — after the state supreme court just permanently struck down a six-week ban for violating South Carolinians' constitutional right to privacy.
• Wyoming lawmakers are pushing a bill that would criminalize the manufacturing, distribution, or prescribing of medication abortion pills. The bill has already passed the Senate and now moves to the House.

 

For more information on how laws affect abortion where you live, visit abortionfinder.org.

Every one of these fights to protect reproductive health and rights matters — and we're counting on you to stick with us.

Thanks for staying in the fight,

Planned Parenthood Action Fund