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Abortion 'trigger laws' begin taking effect

Supreme Court Abortion
Posted at 2:06 PM, Jun 24, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-24 14:37:17-04

Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Oklahoma announced it will no longer allow abortions to be carried out in the state.

A letter from the Oklahoma attorney general said Friday's decision gives the state the authority to prohibit abortions and law enforcement is entrusted to enforce the law.

Oklahoma was one of thirteen states that had so-called "trigger laws" on the books. The laws allow for the states to ban abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

In addition to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming have trigger laws, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights advocacy group.

Several other states have had abortion bans before the Supreme Court's ruling, which will go into effect now.

Those states include Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Following the ruling, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said she would work to enforce a law passed in 2019 that makes performing an abortion a felony except in cases where the mother's health is in danger, ABC News reported.

A law that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy was signed back in April by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, which will now go into effect.

In Michigan, a pre-Roe v. Wade law was put into place that would ban abortions. But Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in which a judge ruled in May that the state cannot enforce the law and that the case must play out, ABC News reported.

In Wisconsin, an 1849 law that made abortion a felony will now go into effect.