By Gabriella Borter
(Reuters) – Battles over abortion are heating up in state capitols across the United States as lawmakers wrestle with how much to restrict or expand access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
Here is a snapshot of state legislation seeking to ban or protect abortion access in 2023.
RESTRICTIONS
FLORIDA: While the 15-week abortion ban signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis last year is being challenged in court, Republican state lawmakers have said they are considering pursuing stricter measures, such as a 12-week ban. DeSantis has said he would sign a ban on abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy if the Republican-controlled legislature passes such a measure.
KANSAS: Although Kansans voted in favor of state abortion rights on a ballot measure last year, Republican lawmakers have proposed measures including a near-total ban on abortion and prohibitions on prescribing abortion pills over telemedicine.
IDAHO: Lawmakers in Idaho have introduced legislation that would make it illegal to help a minor get an abortion in another state without the permission of a parent or guardian. Offenders would face two to five years in prison. The Republican-led state is currently enforcing a total abortion ban.
MONTANA: The Republican-led state Senate has passed a bill seeking to overturn a 1999 state supreme court ruling that found that the state constitution protected a right to abortion. That ruling has prevented lawmakers in the conservative state from restricting abortion further than the current 24-week limit. The bill will next be considered by the House.
Lawmakers are also considering a bill this year that would limit abortion access for Medicaid patients.
NEBRASKA: Republicans in Nebraska’s 50-seat unicameral legislature have introduced a six-week abortion ban. The bill has 29 co-sponsors and needs 33 votes to pass without filibuster. Abortion is currently legal in the state up to 22 weeks.
NORTH DAKOTA: The state supreme court is due to rule on a challenge to a trigger ban – a total abortion ban that immediately went into effect when Roe was overturned – but which has since been blocked while the case proceeds. In the meantime, Republican lawmakers are moving a bill to allow abortions for rape and incest cases before six weeks’ gestation, intending to clarify the ban.
SOUTH CAROLINA: Despite the fact that the state supreme court recently struck down a six-week abortion ban in a 3-2 vote, and refused to rehear the state’s case, Republicans have introduced a near-total abortion ban and a six-week ban this year. Both bills have passed one chamber; the Senate has passed the six-week ban, which includes some exceptions, and the House passed the near-total ban this week.
WYOMING: A bill banning the use or prescription of medication abortion pills has passed Wyoming’s Senate and is now before the House of Representatives. Abortion is legal until viability, about 24 weeks, while a state court is reviewing a challenge to a near-total trigger ban.
WEST VIRGINIA: Republican state senators have introduced a bill to remove the rape and incest exceptions from the state’s near-total abortion ban, which is currently in effect.
PROTECTIONS
MICHIGAN: The legislature’s new Democratic majority is advancing abortion protections, including a bill to repeal a nearly century-old law on the books that bans abortion.
ILLINOIS: Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker in January signed a law protecting abortion providers and out-of-state patients from legal attacks waged by other states.
MINNESOTA: Democratic Governor Tim Walz in January signed legislation passed by the Minnesota legislature’s new Democratic majority that codifies abortion rights in state law, as well as a right to contraception and fertility treatment. House Democrats have introduced a bill to shield abortion providers and patients from other states’ legal attacks.
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Matthew Lewis)
