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If the Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade, regulation of abortion will revert to individual states.

Cyndi Monaghan/Getty Images



In an opinion written by Blackmun, the court determined that laws like the Texas ban violated, among other rights, the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, which protects the "right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy." 

Later cases affirmed the right to an abortion within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, after which time a fetus is considered viable outside the womb. In 1992's Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court further determined laws could not impose an "undue burden" on reproductive rights. 

Is abortion illegal across the US?

Striking down Roe ends federal protections for [url=https://exercism.org/profiles/microsoftlicense1a]Article abortion and returns the decision to individual states. While that doesn't make abortion illegal nationwide, 26 states have laws restricting or banning abortion that should take effect immediately, , a reproductive rights advocacy group. 

Some are older measures that have simply been unenforced since 1973, but 13 states have [url=]so-called trigger laws that are now in effect. 

Read More: How Overturning Roe v. Wade Could Affect Your Access to Birth Control

On May 25, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed what's considered the nation's strictest abortion ban, making the procedure illegal except to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest reported to law enforcement agencies.

Four states -- Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and West Virginia -- have passed amendments explicitly declaring that their state constitution does not secure the right to terminate a pregnancy.  

Separately, 16 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws protecting the right to have an abortion in case Roe is overturned.  

An [url=]interactive Planned Parenthood map indicates the current status of abortion in all 50 states and how access to abortion would likely change in each if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Who is most impacted by Roe being overturned?

According to a , 41% percent of women of childbearing age would see their closest abortion clinic close. The average distance they would have to travel to reach one would be almost 280 miles, up from 35 miles now.

Overall, the Times found, the number of legal abortions in the country would fall by at least 13%. 

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is providing legal counsel to the Jackson Women's Health Organization, [url=]said in May that if Roe is overturned, Article marginalized groups include Black, Indigenous and other people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities and the economically disadvantaged  "will experience the greatest harms."

In general, women in Republican states, especially those without resources to go elsewhere for services, will be most affected.