“The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.” Mother Teresa (https://www.catholic.org/clife/teresa/quotes.php, accessed 8-26-2024)

It is rare for the US Supreme Court to reverse an earlier decision but in the Dobbs case that it handed down in June, 2022 the court did that very thing. The Court ruled that its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision,which found that there is a right to abortion in the US Constitution, was incorrect: “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.” (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf, accessed 9-18-2024)

As the Dobbs ruling noted, “the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected reprentatives.” Since Dobbs every state in the Union has taken up the topic of abortion. Either the state legislature has voted on the issue or the issue has been put to a vote of the people. As of this month, 41 states restrict abortion after a certain state of pregnancy and 9 states have no restrictions on abortion. Click here to read about how each state currently deals with abortion.

Next Up: Abortion and the US Supreme Court