Essay on Legislative Changes Since Trump's Election: Impact on Abortion Rights

Since the election of Donald Trump a key supporter of abortion restrictive legislations there has been increased activity in the states to further restrict abortion with his recent attendance to an anti-abortion rally. The current pieces of reproductive legislations challenge the historical trend of pro-abortion and freedom based legislations under the Roe vs. Wade context but at the same time there are states which have established policies that further expand women rights and freedom for abortion as well as provision of care (Nash & Dreweke, 2019). The primary cause of the tide is the support that anti-abortion legislations have been getting from Trump's administration with 29 states considering introducing anti-abortion laws which curtail abortion rights with four states already having laws that would ban abortion in the event of the Roe v. Wade being overturned. States such as West Virginia have introduced resolutions to roll back abortion protections and also seek to cut the state funding of abortion (Nash, Gold, Mohammed, Cappello, & Ansari-Thomas, 2018). Lowa and North Dakota new legislations already bans abortion from six weeks of pregnancy despite the litigation and federal appeals (Nash & Dreweke, 2019).

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Despite the pro-restriction legislations in states there has been significant strides towards proactive reproductive rights. States such as Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Washington, Hawaii, and California have put legislations in place to protect abortion access and expand access to care while others have legislations in place which promotes access to contraception (Mallampati, Simon, & Janiak, 2017). There is both support and opposition of abortion in states across the United States which shows significant political motivation. In the future, there will be a significant decline in a united approach towards reproductive legislations in the United States with different states having different ideas and motivations towards pro or anti-abortion legislation while others are restricting or improving reproductive care. Federal restrictions and Roe v. Wade restrictions continue to restrict states that seek to introduce pro-abortion legislations such as reducing the time of legal abortion to six weeks which could restrict the freedom of many women to have reproductive freedom as provided by the constitution and the Roe v. Wade ruling (Nash & Dreweke, 2019).

References

Mallampati, D., Simon, M. A., & Janiak, E. (2017). Evolving state-based contraceptive and abortion policies. Jama, 317(24), 2481-2482. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2630333

Nash, E., & Dreweke, J. (2019). The US abortion rate continues to drop: Once again, state abortion restrictions are not the main driver. Guttmacher Policy Review, 22. Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/article_files/gpr2204119.pdf

Nash, E., Gold, R. B., Mohammed, L., Cappello, O., & Ansari-Thomas, Z. (2018). Laws affecting reproductive health and rights: state policy trends at midyear. Guttmacher Institute. 2018. Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2018/07/laws-affecting-reproductive-health-and-rights-state-policy-trends-midyear-2018