See What Happens to Abortion State by State If Roe v. Wade Is Overturned

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, an unborn baby in Alaska still could be aborted up to the moment of birth. But in Tennessee, the life of an unborn child would be protected from the moment of conception in almost all circumstances.

How could two states in the U.S. treat their unborn children so differently? The moral or philosophical answer is challenging; however, the legal answer is simple: federalism.

Over 230 years ago, the Framers of the Constitution established in the 10th Amendment that “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

If the Supreme Court reverses its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that made abortion on demand legal in all 50 states, the high court will be saying that the Constitution doesn’t provide a “right” to abortion, conservative legal analysts say.

Just as before the court’s Roe ruling, all states again would have the power to determine abortion law within their own borders.

States across the nation vary in how they would treat the unborn if the Supreme Court overturns Roe in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. More than a dozen states have passed something called a trigger law that would go into effect post-Roe.  For the purposes of this article, trigger law refers to pro-life legislation that bans all, or most, abortions in a state once Roe is reversed.

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