Texas, Idaho, and Tennessee have implemented near-total bans with exceptions only related to preventing the death or serious injury of a pregnant person.
By Alexandra Martinez, Prism
Abortion bans are now officially in effect in Texas, Idaho, and Tennessee. All three states already limited abortions to six weeks, but as of Aug. 25, they are entirely banned. The three trigger laws are near-total bans with exceptions only in cases related to preventing the death or serious injury of a pregnant person. Texas’ and Tennessee’s laws make no exceptions for rape or incest.
Two months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, at least 12 states have near-total bans, and four have bans from six-to-20 weeks of pregnancy, leaving people in nearly one-third of the country without meaningful access to abortion care. Reproductive rights advocates have long been warning of the dangers of abortion deserts, and they are now a reality as residents in those states have to travel long distances to access abortion.
According to Melissa Fowler, the chief program officer at the National Abortion Federation (NAF), since the Dobbs decision in June, their National Abortion Hotline has seen an alarming rise in patients forced to leave their home states to access care hundreds of miles away because essential abortion care is either outlawed or criminalized where they live. In addition, NAF must now support their member providers with increasing security measures as anti-abortion extremists are roused by the bans.
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