With the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization only months away, both sides in the abortion wars are preparing for what may come if Roe falls.
According to Bloomberg, some big companies are preparing to fund both abortions and travel for their employees should they need to go out of state. Citigroup Inc., Apple, Bumble, and Hewlett Packard are among the first to offer health care benefits that include out-of-state abortions. Abortion groups are applauding these moves and urging other major corporations to do the same.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma legislature passed an abortion ban even more comprehensive than the Texas Heartbeat Act on March 22. Like the Texas law, which has thus far survived all challenges, House Bill 4327 would allow private individuals to sue abortionists or those assisting them. The bill is also expected to pass the Oklahoma senate.
A day later, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed a law modeled after the Texas Heartbeat Act banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and enforced via private lawsuit to avoid constitutional court challenges. Governor Little admitted he had Rep over the law’s constitutionality but signed it anyway. “I stand in solidarity with all Idahoans who seek to protect the lives of pre-born babies,” he wrote in a letter to Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, president of the Senate.
The same day, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed a law requiring women seeking an abortion to make three visits to a doctor in order to take abortion pills. A U.S. District judge has halted implementation, stating that this would make pill abortions so difficult to obtain that the law constitutes “an undue burden on a person’s right to seek an abortion.” South Dakota has appealed that decision to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
