The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, ending the constitutional right to abortion. The 5-4 ruling declared Roe was "egregiously wrong," returning authority to individual states to regulate or ban the practice. This historic decision immediately triggered abortion bans in 13 states.
All five justices who voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade were appointed by Republican Presidents.
As of early 2026, Republicans have passed laws in several U.S. states to have near-total abortion bans, typically with an exception only to save the pregnant person's life, rather than for rape or incest.
States with the most restrictive bans, often lacking exceptions for rape or incest, include red states: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia
While adults can generally travel to other states for an abortion, Republicans in Idaho and Tennessee passed laws that criminalize adults who "harbor or transport" a minor across state lines for the procedure without parental consent.
A May 2025 report found that in 13 states with strict abortion bans, maternal mortality rose by 5% between 2019 and 2023, making women in those states nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth compared to states with access.
Studies identified a 7% increase in infant mortality in certain months following the ruling, with an estimated 478 additional infant deaths, partly attributed to forced carriage of pregnancies with fatal abnormalities
Tierra Walker: A 37-year-old Black woman who died at 20 weeks pregnant from severe preeclampsia; investigative reporting revealed she was repeatedly not offered pregnancy termination options despite worsening high-risk conditions and consulting numerous physicians, amid fears of criminal prosecution under Texas laws.
Porsha Ngumezi: A 35-year-old Black woman who died in 2023 after suffering heavy bleeding during an 11-week miscarriage; reports and medical board findings noted that care was delayed and she was not promptly given a standard dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure.
Josseli Barnica, a 28-year-old Hispanic woman in Texas, died from an infection in 2021 after hospital staff delayed standard miscarriage care for 40 hours because the fetus still had a detectable heartbeat.
The next presidential election may determine the future of abortion rights. The next president might be able to appoint two new Supreme Court Justices as well as hundreds of federal judges who will rule on abotion cases.