No states have yet enacted bans on interstate travel for abortions, but The Washington Post reported Wednesday (June 29) some state legislators are considering such proposals. More than half of the states, however, have already approved restrictions that either prohibit the distribution of abortion pills by means of telemedicine appointments or required at least one in-person visit, according to Stateline, a publication of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Three states – Kentucky, South Dakota and Tennessee – have enacted restrictions on medical/chemical abortions in 2022. The new laws in Kentucky and South Dakota ban the mailing of abortion pills. In 2020, 54 percent of all abortions in the United States were by abortion pills.
A new website established by HHS provides information on abortion access, insurance coverage of the procedure and medical/chemical abortions. It also offers a link to a website for finding abortion providers, receiving funding to pay for the procedure and learning about the legal status in each state.
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Biden charged the court’s conservative majority June 24 with making the United States “an outlier among developed nations in the world.”
The United States, however, had one of the most permissive abortion policies in the world under Roe. Combined with the Doe v. Bolton companion decision released the same day in 1973, Roe permitted abortion throughout pregnancy.
A 2021 study by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute showed 47 of 50 European countries prohibit elective abortions or restrict them to 15 weeks or earlier. The United States reportedly was one of only six countries, including China and North Korea, that permitted elective abortions after 20 weeks gestation.
Biden’s response to the overturning of Roe has elicited calls from some congressional Democrats for stronger steps.
In a June 25 letter, 30 Democratic senators urged the president “to use the full force of the federal government” to safeguard abortion access. They urged him “to take every step available to your Administration, across federal agencies,” to protect abortion rights.
Some Democrats in Congress have proposed the administration open abortion clinics on federal lands in conservative states, Axios reported.
Though she described the recommendation as “well-intentioned,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said June 28 an agreement with Native American tribes to use their land for abortion clinics would involve “dangerous ramifications.”
“[I]n states where abortion is now illegal, women and providers who are not federal employees, as you look at the federal land, could potentially be prosecuted,” she told reporters, according to Axios.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and other members of Congress introduced the Stop Anti-abortion Disinformation Act the day before the Supreme Court’s ruling. The bill calls for the Federal Trade Commission to implement rules to ban what they describe as “deceptive or misleading advertising” by pregnancy resource centers regarding abortion services.
Among the organizations that have endorsed the proposal are leading abortion rights advocates, including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-choice America and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
In the past, abortion rights supporters have promoted other attempts to discredit pregnancy resource centers, which provide a variety of services – sometimes including medical care – without charge to women.
With the overruling of Roe, 26 states are certain or likely to prohibit abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization affiliated with the abortion rights movement.
This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.
