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handle is hein.crs/goveiyy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional_______
esearch Service
State Laws Restricting or Prohibiting Abortion
Updated September 27, 2022
The Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overruled Roe v Wade,
providing states with greater discretion to restrict abortion access, including by limiting abortion prior to
fetal viability. This Sidebar provides an overview of existing or recently passed state laws prohibiting or
limiting abortion prior to 24 weeks' gestational age, which for many years was widely considered the
point of viability, though medical advancements may have moved that point earlier. The Sidebar also
identifies trigger laws that generally prohibit abortion that were set to go into effect, either
automatically or following action by a state official, if the Supreme Court ever overturned Roe v. Wade.
This Sidebar does not address any exceptions to these restrictions, such as in the case of a medical
emergency, or restrictions to specific methods of abortion, such as medication abortion. Links to the full
text of statutes listed in this Legal Sidebar are available through the Law Librarians' Society of
Washington, DC Legislative Sourcebook.
Some of the laws below may not currently be in effect due to court injunctions. Some prosecutors have
also indicated that they intend to use their discretion not to enforce the laws at the local level.
Methodology and Limitations
CRS searched the Lexis+ subscription database for state laws or recent state legislation (passed between
September 1, 2021, and September 26, 2022) which prohibit or limit abortion prior to 24 weeks.
While CRS made every attempt to be comprehensive in its search and review, this Sidebar may not have
captured some relevant statutes. For example, due to variations in database search functionalities, other
versions of the state statutes may retrieve different results. Also, this survey may not contain very recent
laws passed by the state legislatures or enacted provisions that are not codified yet, or which were not
contained in the Lexis+ legislation database.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB10779
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress

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