We knew they would do it but it still shocks to see just how eager they are to make women’s lives more miserable:
Nebraska lawmakers kicked off the new year by introducing a bill to ban all abortions if the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision is overturned. The next day, Florida legislators announced their plan to narrow the window for abortion access from 24 weeks of pregnancy to 15. And later that week in Phoenix, state legislators unveiled the Arizona Heartbeat Act, designed to mimic a Texas law passed last year.
With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to decide in the coming months whether to upend its nearly 50-year precedent that established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide, lawmakers in Republican-led states across the country have moved aggressively in recent weeks to lay the groundwork for a new era of abortion restrictions.
While it’s possible that the high court either will overturn Roe or leave the precedent fully intact, many legal scholars and advocates on both sides anticipate the justices will land somewhere in the middle, instantly changing the standard for abortion legislation. Antiabortion lawmakers are trying to predict what the Supreme Court might do as they craft laws designed to take effect soon after a ruling, whatever the justices decide.
Then the battle will move to the blue states, don’t kid yourself. The activists have defined their lives around this issue and they will not stop until it’s banned. Which it might be. We just don’t know.