Which states have the most restrictive abortion laws in the USA?

Each time the curtailing of abortion rights, or the protection of them, has been put to the voters, the population has walked away with more protections for their reproductive freedoms. Today in Florida, an extremely restrictive abortion ban has gone into effect, but maybe not for long, as a referendum on the ballot in November will determine whether the state’s residents would like to see the right to abortion enshrined in the state’s constitution.

Voters in Florida will have the final say

Last August, fifty-six percent of voters in Ohio approved a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s founding document. Ohio is a state that went for Donald Trump twice, and Tuesday’s election shows that protecting the right to an abortion transcends party politics. Before the question of protecting abortion rights was put to voters in the Buckeye State, similar initiatives had been launched in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont. Each time voters ended election night, their rights to reproductive healthcare were more protected. Voters in Florida and New York will have the chance to follow the lead of voters in other states later this year, and only time will tell if they will make the same decision. An Ipsos poll taken in April found that the majority of voters would vote to expand access to abortion in the Sunshine State as pro-and-anti-choice advocates begin making their case in the months ahead.

States with the most restrictive abortion laws

Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, over a dozen states moved to curtail abortion access, with the Florida law just being the most recent example. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research and advocacy organization, sixteen states have imposed ‘near-total bans.’

In certain states, exceptions are made in cases where the mother’s life is at risk or in cases of rape or incest. However, not all of the states listed have made such exceptions. For example, earlier this year, Louisiana lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would have allowed exceptions for rape and incest. In Georgia, abortions have been prohibited after six weeks, which is not a complete ban, but can have the same impact, as some people may not even realize they are pregnant at the 6-week mark.

Furthermore, in addition to the stringent abortion laws, North Dakota does not have any abortion clinics operating within the state.

States that ban abortion between 15 and 18 weeks

Arizona bans abortion at 15 weeks. Utah bans abortion after 18 weeks. Lawmakers in Utah have attempted to pass a total abortion ban, but its implementation has been blocked by the courts.