Dive Brief:
- With the Supreme Court ruling Friday to overturn the federal right to abortion, states are facing rulings from other courts that will regulate which abortion services providers can continue.
- Several states had trigger laws set to ban or restrict abortion services once Roe v. Wade was overturned. Many of these laws have gone into effect. Judges in some states, though, have put such laws on a temporary hold.
- HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said Tuesday his department was working to increase access to medication abortion, ensure patient and provider privacy and support clinical decisions of physicians. Becerra referred to the Supreme Court decision as “unconscionable” and “despicable.”
Dive Insight:
With the overturning of Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decided Friday by a 6-3 vote, several state laws have been set in motion across the country. Some laws were set to go into effect when Roe was overturned, while others were on the books before Roe was decided.
In Louisiana and Utah, judges put temporary holds on abortion restrictions and bans with future court dates set to decide the issue. Other trigger laws have gone into effect in states including Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
With abortion rights now up to individual states, legal experts have said a chaotic environment will follow as providers try to understand how various laws will be implemented and enforced.
Over the weekend, Michigan’s largest health system grappled with this issue as it rolled back a previous statement following Friday’s ruling that it would only perform abortions to save the life of the mother. By Sunday, BHSH System said it would continue abortion services when medically necessary.
Becerra said Tuesday that the CMS will take all legally available steps to protect access to emergency contraception and IUDs. He said he was at an abortion clinic in St. Louis when the decision came down Friday.
“People in the room were visibly shaking. There were tears,” he said, adding later, “This is a moment of crisis in healthcare.”
A total of 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion in the wake of Friday's decision from the Supreme Court, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
These state actions are only the first of many to be expected as some states seek strict abortion services regulations and others champion what they are doing to support abortion rights.