Anti-abortion bills are sweeping the U.S., with the Guttmacher Institute reporting that 82 restrictions have been introduced in 30 states in 2022 so far. On Wednesday, Idaho signed into law a six-week abortion ban, and lawmakers in Oklahoma passed a near-total ban on abortions — each modeled after a Texas “bounty hunter” law that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization later this year, in which a Mississippi abortion facility is challenging the state’s restrictive abortion law. If Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes the new justice, will it affect the court’s ruling? “Abortion rights don’t fall within that framework of constitutional rights that the Supreme Court feels that it has an obligation to uphold,” says Imani Gandy, senior editor of law and policy for Rewire News Group. “It is presumed that Roe is going to be reversed in a couple months,” says Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor and senior legal correspondent for Slate.
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