A new and rapidly changing reality emerged across America on Saturday as abortion, a basic legal right for nearly half a century, was banned in some states, and the first outbursts of elation and shock from the overthrow of Roe v. Wade gave way to action.
At abortion clinics across the country, health care providers hastily canceled appointments for fear of prosecution, and bewildered women made abrupt plans to cross state lines into places where abortion was still allowed — traveling from Missouri to Illinois, from Wisconsin to Minnesota.
In Arkansas, where a trigger law went into effect Friday banning abortions, 17 patients were scheduled for abortions on Friday at Little Rock Family Planning Services, but none were carried out before the Supreme Court decision halted operations. About 30 additional patients were scheduled for an ultrasound and consultation required by previous Arkansas law before women could have an abortion.
The Yellowhammer Fund, which is based in Alabama and provides financial support to women seeking abortions, has received a torrent of calls over the past day from people confused about the changing laws and seeking guidance and money to travel elsewhere for abortions. .
“People who had appointments for next week don’t have appointments anymore,” said Laurie Bertram Roberts, the fund’s executive director. “The person who manages the phone line is very overwhelmed.”
Legal experts were faced with a rapidly changing landscape of abortion laws. The newly redrawn map of the United States that took shape on Saturday banned abortion in at least nine states, prompting vows of prompt enforcement by officials in conservative states. Prosecutors in liberal states and provinces responded defiantly, saying they would not violate their own values by bringing criminal cases against doctors who performed abortions.
Demonstrations continued in cities across the country. Americans said they were gearing up for a fight in the wake of the court’s decision, whether that meant pushing for even more restrictions on abortion, or making an effort to elect supporters in the midterm elections. of abortion rights.
“I am afraid for my child. I worry she won’t have a choice,” said Abbye Putterman, 36, who stood outside an abortion clinic in Overland Park, Kansas on Saturday, speaking about the impact the decision could have on her 12-year-old daughter. “I feel like a lot of white men are trying to decide what to do with my daughter. Those guys don’t know anything about what it’s like to carry a child — what pregnancy does to your body.”
Abortion is still legal in Kansas, but was banned in neighboring Missouri on Friday. In August, a ballot initiative will ask Kansas voters to decide whether the state constitution should continue to protect the right to abortion.
Ms. Putterman was at the clinic showing support for the women receiving services there, while anti-abortion protesters gathered outside.
“We don’t believe in moral compromise and we don’t want them to commit murder,” said Valley Scharping, 26, who stood on the doorstep. He was holding a sign that read, “Love your unborn neighbor as yourself.”
On Saturday, President Biden spoke about Roe’s decision. “Jill and I know how painful and devastating the decision is for so many Americans,” he said, adding that the government would focus on states and “how they administer them and whether they are violating other laws.”
Some states imposed new abortion restrictions on Saturday, while others tried to speed up timelines for the ban.
After the Supreme Court returned control of abortion restrictions to the states, at least nine states with about 40 million people quickly implemented bans. Other abortion bans issued pending a post-Roe legal landscape worked their way through the courts.
In Idaho, North Dakota and Texas, officials said they would wait the 30 days stipulated in their laws before their so-called trigger laws, banning abortion, went into effect.
In Ohio, a law banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy came into effect after a federal judge lifted a ban that had blocked the law for the past three years. Gov. Mike DeWine Friday reiterated his opposition to abortion, saying he believed “that a human’s life is at stake and that we have a duty to protect that innocent life.”
The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah filed a lawsuit in state court on Saturday to overturn the state’s ban on abortion, which took effect Friday. The lawsuit alleges that the ban violates several protections in the state’s constitution, including the right to determine family composition. Planned Parenthood in the state said it must stop performing abortions immediately after the ban goes into effect and it would have to cancel 55 abortion appointments scheduled for next week unless a temporary waiver is granted.
In many states, residents had to grapple with a confusing array of rulings as local and state officials clashed over the legality of abortion restrictions and how they would be enforced.
In Tennessee, Herbert Slatery, the attorney general, filed an emergency motion Friday to request a court to lift a ban and legalize a ban on abortions after six weeks.
“After nearly 50 years, today’s decision gives Tennessee residents a say in what the Court called ‘a profound moral issue,'” he said in a statement.
But Glenn Funk, the Nashville District Attorney, said in a statement that he would not prosecute doctors who perform abortions or women who choose such a procedure.
“I will use my constitutional powers to protect women, healthcare providers and those who make personal health decisions,” he said.
Officials at Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, which was the focus of the Supreme Court case on Friday, predicted that conservative activists would soon push for restrictions on birth control and same-sex marriage rights.
Diane Derzis, owner of the clinic, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, said it would most likely remain open for 10 days after the Supreme Court decision, before closing its doors when a new law is expected to come into effect in that state.
“It’s started,” she said. “In the coming days, weeks and year you will see that half of the states do not have abortion services. We will continue to provide services. We’re not laying down.”
In states where abortion remains legal, leaders pledged to strengthen protections.
Governors in California, Oregon and Washington issued a joint “commitment to reproductive freedom,” saying they would welcome people who wish to have abortions in their states and curb efforts by other state governments to prosecute those who did.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called for a special session for lawmakers to strengthen abortion rights, anticipating that women from other states would flock to Illinois for abortion services.
At a Planned Parenthood clinic in Waukegan, Illinois, just miles from the Wisconsin border, a group of about 20 anti-abortion protesters stood with signs and baths on Saturday.
The clinic opened in 2020 pending Roe’s destruction and Wisconsin banning abortions, said Mary Jane Maharry, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Illinois. “We have enough staff to meet current needs and we are working to expand our workforce to accommodate the projected increase of 20,000 to 30,000 additional out-of-state patients per year,” she said.
In Charleston, W. Va., the state’s only abortion clinic terminated all appointments, fearing that a 19th-century abortion ban would suddenly become enforceable again after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
One of the appointments had just been made Thursday by a 21-year-old pregnant woman in West Virginia who had weighed whether she was ready to have a child and decided she wasn’t.
On Friday, a clinic employee called to tell the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared her parents would disown her if they knew she was planning to have an abortion, that her appointment would be cancelled.
“When I went to bed, I had my appointment and everything was arranged,” she said, “and then today is just like it was before 1973.”
Reporting contributed by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs† Aurelien Breeden† Robert Chiarito† Emily CochraneJimmy E Gates, Carey Gillam† Victoria Kim and Erica Sweeney†
