KEY POINTS
  • The overturning of Roe v. Wade is set to almost immediately remake how access to abortion looks in America.
  • Twenty-two states had laws or constitutional amendments that were already in place which could be quickly used to try to ban abortion.
  • The laws include bans on abortion that were already in place in a number of states before the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe protected abortion rights.

The overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court is set to almost immediately remake how access to abortion looks in America, with nearly half of the states on track to outright ban or severely limit the procedure.

Twenty-two states had laws or constitutional amendments that were already in place which could be quickly used to try to ban abortion as a result of the decision, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a leading reproductive rights advocacy group.