Washington D.C., Jan 28, 2019 / 16:00 pm
Efforts are underway across several states to codify and expand abortion rights in state law. Pro-life advocates told CNA the moves signal a growing acceptance by abortion advocates that the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade could be either overturned or revised.
Several states, including New York, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, have either passed new laws expanding abortion access or are moving towards removing old laws from the statute books that would criminalize or limit abortion in the event of a change at the federal level.
"Advocates of abortion seem finally to recognize that Roe is destined to be overturned on the federal level, and so are shifting their fight to create rights to abortion on the state level," Steven H. Aden, chief legal officer and general counsel of Americans United for Life told CNA.
Aden said that he believes the shift to state-level politics shows that abortion advocates "implicitly acknowledge what advocates for life have pointed out since Roe--that there is no constitutional right to abortion."