Advocates for the right to abortion gather in front of the Supreme Court on Friday for a demonstration. (Sarah Silbiger for CNN)
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade Friday, considering there is no longer a federal constitutional right to abortion. In the future, abortion rights will be determined by states, unless Congress acts.
Here are the answers to some of the most common questions about what this sentence means.
Will women be arrested for having an abortion?
The criminal liability of an abortion plaintiff will depend on the abortion policies established by her state.
Leaders of the anti-abortion movement have said in the past that women should not be prosecuted for obtaining an abortion and that criminal laws prohibiting such abortion should be directed at abortion providers or others who facilitate the procedure. . Several states with abortion bans that could go into effect with Roe’s revocation have a language that exempts the woman who obtained the abortion from prosecution.
Nor is there anything to stop lawmakers from passing laws requiring the prosecution of people who requested abortion.
In case of rape or incest or even child pregnancy, where is the law for these people?
Exemptions from prohibitions on abortion for rape, incest, or maternal health will now vary from state to state. In the wave of abortion limits that have recently been passed by state legislatures in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling, only some of the proposals included exemptions for rape and incest.
It is a question that lawmakers will probably review now that the opinion has been dictated. While anticipating plans to convene a special legislative session once the opinion is issued, South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster said he opposed rape or incest exemptions. Meanwhile, Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson told CNN in May that he supported adding exemptions from rape and incest to the trigger law that currently exists in state books.
How are in vitro fertilizations defined? If a state defines the fertilized egg as a human being with rights, then if a doctor fertilizes four eggs, but does [not] implant the four in a woman, is this a homicide?
What this view means for fertility treatments is still uncertain. Some state laws have a language that seems to exempt the removal of unused embryos created for IVF, but this language does not necessarily exempt the process of selective reduction, when a woman whose fertility treatments lead to multiple pregnancies has one or more of these fetuses. completed to protect the viability of other fetuses and / or the mother’s health. More broadly, fertility law experts raise concerns about how Roe’s reversal will encourage lawmakers to regulate IVF procedures, which have largely been protected from the abortion debate because of protections. of Roe.
Why doesn’t the currently Democratic-controlled legislature pass a federal law that legalizes abortion?
Democrats currently do not have the votes to dismantle Senate obstruction, a 60-vote procedural mechanism that Republicans can use to block federal legislation on abortion rights, as long as 40 senators oppose the rights. to abortion. But it’s worth noting that the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would codify and expand Roe, failed 49-51 when it was voted on in the Senate in May, meaning even without obstruction, would not have become law. .
There are also legal questions about whether it would be constitutional for federal lawmakers to enact a nationwide ban. The late Judge Antonin Scalia stressed in his legal writings on abortion that political decisions belonged to the hands of individual states, while expressing skepticism that Congress has the constitutional authority to regulate the procedure.
Get more answers to frequently asked questions here.