No wonder American abortion activists have been panicking: According to a recent report from Planned Parenthood and the Guttmacher Institute, more than 250 bills restricting abortion have been filed in 41 states since the beginning of 2019. More than 400 pro-life laws have passed in state legislatures since 2011, but the avalanche of pro-life legislation seems to have increased and picked up speed over the past two years, especially with an uptick in “heartbeat bills,” which functionally ban abortion at six weeks (Georgia’s heartbeat ban is currently attracting the ire of the television industry.)
With the Trump Administration packing the courts with pro-life justices, anti-abortion legal groups are maneuvering for the best case to take another crack at Roe. At the moment, there are over twenty cases in line at the Supreme Court of the United States that could undermine abortion rights as defined by Roe even further, or potentially overturn Roe entirely—that, of course, will depend on whether Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh vote pro-life. Chief Justice John Roberts, a justice with an impeccable pro-life record, has also given cause for concern over the past few years, and it is possible that he would vote to uphold Roe to avoid appearing partisan. Despite those provisos, this is certainly the best opportunity pro-lifers have had to overturn Roe in a generation.
