{"id":266690,"date":"2022-04-22T16:46:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T21:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=266690"},"modified":"2022-04-25T22:37:51","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T03:37:51","slug":"500-pro-life-measures-states-majority-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/500-pro-life-measures-states-majority-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 500 pro-life measures introduced in majority of states so far in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over 500 pro-life measures have been introduced in a majority of states so far in 2022. This follows a similar trend set in\u00a02021<\/a>,\u00a0when a staggering amount of pro-life legislation was introduced and passed \u2014 so much so, that the abortion industry described<\/a>\u00a0it as the \u201cWorst Year for Abortion Rights in Almost Half a Century.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to data released<\/a> by the Guttmacher Institute, 536 pro-life legislative measures have been introduced in 42 states in 2022, as of\u00a0April 14. The former “special affiliate” of Planned Parenthood also claimed that 28 pro-life proposals have thus far passed at least one legislative chamber in 11 states, with 33 pro-life laws enacted in nine states, including\u00a0Arizona<\/a> (2), Florida<\/a> (1), Idaho<\/a> (1), Indiana (2), Kentucky (19), Oklahoma<\/a> (1), South Dakota<\/a> (5), West Virginia<\/a> (1) and Wyoming<\/a> (1).<\/p>\n

Abortion bans<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Even before the US Supreme Court rules on Mississippi\u2019s 15-week abortion ban in\u00a0Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health Organization<\/em>\u00a0by the end of June, anti-abortion policymakers are banking on the Court\u2019s 6\u20133 anti-abortion majority to weaken or outright overturn\u00a0Roe<\/em>. They are preemptively flooding statehouses with restrictive bills in hopes that federal protections for abortion rights will soon be gone,” Guttmacher wrote.<\/p>\n

The pro-abortion organization claims that 86 “abortion bans” have been proposed in 31 states. They claim five of these have passed at least one legislative chamber in three states \u2014\u00a0Kentucky (1), Oklahoma (3) and West Virginia (1) \u2014 while six measures have already been enacted in Arizona (1), Florida (1), Idaho (1), Kentucky (1), Oklahoma (1) and Wyoming (1).<\/p>\n

These include six pro-life bills prohibiting abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy introduced in four states. Measures limiting abortion at 15 weeks have already been signed into law by pro-life governors in\u00a0Arizona<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Florida<\/a>. In Kentucky, pro-life lawmakers\u00a0overrode<\/a> a veto by pro-abortion Governor Andy Beshear, enacting sweeping abortion regulations<\/a>\u00a0in the state, including a limit on abortions past 15 weeks.\u00a0A 15-week abortion restriction has also been introduced<\/a>\u00a0and passed by one legislative chamber in West Virginia.<\/p>\n

House Bill 3<\/a>\u00a0made Kentucky<\/a> the first U.S. state without legal abortion access since the 1973 Roe v. Wade<\/em> Supreme Court case, according to Reuters<\/a>. However, just days after the law was passed, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings\u00a0issued a\u00a0temporary restraining order<\/a>\u00a0at Planned Parenthood’s request, blocking Kentucky officials from enforcing the measure.<\/p>\n

Texas-style measures and so-called ‘trigger’ bans<\/strong><\/p>\n

So far in 2022, 19 pieces of pro-life legislation introduced in 13 states have been modeled after Texas’ Heartbeat Act (SB 8), which enables civil enforcement to protect preborn babies once a heartbeat can be detected. In March<\/a>, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed\u00a0Senate Bill 1309<\/a>, enacting similar legislation which contains exceptions for rape, incest, and medical emergency for the mother (read more here<\/a> about why deliberately killing a preborn child is never actually necessary).<\/p>\n

Guttmacher also claimed that 12 so-called\u00a0\u201ctrigger\u201d bans, which would “quickly prohibit abortion in the state” if Roe<\/em> is overturned, have been introduced in nine states. In March, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed<\/a> such a bill into law, which will ban abortion in the state just five days following a decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sanctuary City ordinances are also growing in number, with five ordinances passed so far this year. This month, the city of Marquez, Texas became<\/a> the\u00a048th city in the nation to pass an enforceable ordinance outlawing abortion within its city limits since the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn<\/a> project began in 2019. According to Mark Lee Dickson, the initiative’s founder, more American cities are expected to follow suit.<\/p>\n