Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and 13 states have trigger laws on the books that immediately, or very quickly, banned abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision Friday. Three states — Kentucky, Louisiana and South Dakota — banned abortion right away. Their laws went into effect immediately after the publication of Justice Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court opinion.
Five states — Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah — require certification (i.e. official confirmation of a state’s right to legislate abortion access) from government officials before their immediate bans go into effect. Missouri’s law has already been certified by the attorney general, banning abortion less than 10 minutes after the Supreme Court’s decision.
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There is no precedent for this type of process, though the Guttmacher Institute speculates certification could happen within hours or a few days of the Supreme Court’s decision. Several states have been preparing for action as soon as the verdict drops, so it is probable the bans could be enacted the same day or within 24 hours.
Idaho, Tennessee and Texas all have bans that go into effect on the thirtieth day after the Supreme Court judgment. Texas’s State Attorney Ken Paxton released an advisory note on Friday clarifying that the “judgment” is not synonymous with opinion. It is unclear how other states will interpret the language, so it is possible any of these bans could go into effect as early as July 24.
Wyoming’s ban goes into effect five days after certification from the governor (earliest June 29) and attorney general, while Mississippi’s ban goes into effect 10 days after certification from the attorney general (earliest July 4).
Trigger laws are not the only threats immediately curbing abortion access. Several states never repealed their pre-Roe abortion bans, and many abortion restrictions were enjoined on the basis of Roe and Casey. There is no precedent for how these laws will be enforced going forward.
Correction: The chart and article previously misstated how soon Mississippi’s abortion ban could go into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The ban goes into effect 10 days after the decision is certified by the state attorney general.
