Three years ago, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, tearing away the constitutional right to abortion care. The Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the first time in history the Supreme Court took away a fundamental right.
This meant that the right to abortion would now be held in the hands of individual states—allowing for a patchwork of abortion bans, restrictions and barriers passed by conservative legislatures to advance an extremist agenda.
As of now, 13 states have total abortion bans, with very few exceptions. Twenty-eight additional states ban abortion between six weeks and “viability,” according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute.
In the first six months of this year alone, 14 states took up legislation that would criminalize the sale, purchase, or distribution of medication abortion pills. And ten bills were introduced that would reclassify the drugs used in medication abortion as controlled substances. Last year, Louisiana became the first state to do so, adding the drugs to its list of Schedule IV “controlled, dangerous substances” and requiring hospitals to keep them locked away instead of readily available for emergency use.
Another report from Guttmacher shows how abortion bans are forcing patients to travel far from their home states to access abortion care.
“In 2024, 155,000 people traveled out of state for abortion care, representing 15% of all US abortion patients obtaining care in states without total bans. This total is a decline from 2023, when nearly 170,000 abortion patients traveled across state lines, and an increase from the pre-Dobbs baseline in 2020, when 81,000 abortion patients traveled out of state.”
Three years after Dobbs, we now see that ending Roe wasn’t enough for opponents of reproductive care. They want to embed anti-abortion policies through every branch of government, as Congress is doing right now with their votes on President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that is in reality an ugly attack on our freedom.
The legislation would defund Planned Parenthood, make $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, and ultimately leave 13.7 million people without health care coverage by 2034.
“Defunding” Planned Parenthood would amount to a backdoor abortion ban. It would close down over 200 clinics and strip patients across the country of access to essential and affordable health care. No other provider would be able to fill the gap left by Planned Parenthood.
Also, after a group linked to Project 2025 published a junk science “study” filled with anti-abortion lies about mifepristone, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the FDA to consider new, nationwide restrictions on mifepristone, and launch a politically-motivated review of mifepristone—blatantly disregarding over 200 existing studies of science-backed evidence that prove its’ safety and efficacy.
As NOW members mark this tragic anniversary, we recommit ourselves to protecting and restoring access to abortion care and protecting every woman from those who would put their own narrow political agenda above the health and safety of women.
