On Saturday, an Oklahoma law establishing higher criminal penalties for illegal abortions goes into effect, adding to the state’s already harsh laws banning the procedure. For about 9.9 million women of reproductive age (15-49) in those five states, access to abortion would be affected by these laws, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. With these laws in place, nearly a third of US states will have restrictions or near-total bans on abortion, according to abortion rights groups. Before Thursday, abortions were already effectively banned in Texas, with clinics stopping abortions as a result of two Texas laws that could open them up to civil lawsuits. Texas’ enabling law, passed in 2021, makes abortion illegal unless the pregnant woman is at risk of death or “significant impairment of an important bodily function.” It does not provide for exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Abortions were available in Tennessee up to six weeks into pregnancy, but the law that took effect Thursday bans abortions at all stages of pregnancy unless necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or serious risk of “substantial and irreversible damage’ physical function. Like Texas, Tennessee would also not allow abortions in cases of rape or incest. Idaho also recently banned abortions after fetal heart activity is detected, which can occur about six weeks into pregnancy. Idaho’s enabling law prohibits abortions unless necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or in cases of rape or incest that have been reported to law enforcement. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday blocking the enforcement of Idaho’s ban in certain medical emergencies, granting a request from the Biden administration, which had argued that Idaho’s ban opened doctors to prosecution for providing abortion care they were obligated to do. to offer under federal law. The Idaho decision came a day after a dueling decision in a Texas case involving how the state’s abortion ban interacted with federal law setting standards for emergency room care. The Biden administration has argued that the federal law — known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA — compels doctors to provide abortion care to patients who face the threat of death or other serious health risks due to pregnancy. A federal judge in Texas late Tuesday withdrew that interpretation, granting a request by Texas and a national agency to block the administration from using the law to require providers to offer abortion care to emergency patients in the face of the state’s ban the process. In Idaho, the judge agreed with the Justice Department’s arguments that EMTALA preempted state abortion bans when those bans criminalized medical emergency procedures covered by federal law. Both cases could be appealed, raising the possibility that the Supreme Court could be asked in the coming weeks to consider the federal law’s reach and whether it preempts state emergency abortion bans. In addition, organizations that offer financial and logistical assistance to abortion seekers filed a federal lawsuit this week in Texas asking the court to block the enforcement of the trigger ban and other abortion bans on conduct that occurs outside the state. North Dakota’s enabling law banning abortion in most cases was set to go into effect Friday, but a state judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction, blocking the ban. Judge Bruce Romanick, of the South Central Judicial District in Burleigh County, said he was issuing the preliminary injunction to preserve the state’s status quo while a challenge to the law brought by Red River Women’s Clinic, the state’s only abortion clinic, unfolded in the court. The state currently allows abortion up to 20 weeks or more after fertilization. North Dakota’s abortion ban, passed in 2007, would have made it a felony to perform an abortion in the state with exceptions for the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest. This story has been updated with additional developments.
