By Troy Newman
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, the abortion industry has been scrambling to survive. Changes in each state, reflecting the overall national landscape, are occurring every day.
Clinics are closing and reopening. Lawsuits are being filed. Trigger bans and other pro-life laws are being blocked, unblocked, and blocked again.
As one example, in Louisiana, we reported that a state court in New Orleans blocked three trigger laws. Then another judge in the same court lifted the block, halting abortions at its three abortion clinics and making the state abortion free. Later the same day we published that celebratory news, another judge issued a second temporary restraining order giving abortion clinics permission to resume.
Planned Parenthood has successfully blocked pro-life legislation for years by filing lawsuits against the states in which they operate. And their efforts are continuing. With Roe’s erroneous claim to a “constitutional right” to abortion dissolved, the battles over abortion are now fought at the state level. That does not, however, mean the fights are fewer or less vicious.
Operation Rescue is working hard to track the legal changes daily in each state, and we are conducting first-hand investigations to determine which abortion clinics are scheduling abortions. Because we recognize how important this information is to Americans who care about protecting life in the womb, we are doing all that is within our power to keep you informed.
As part of that effort, Operation Rescue is providing a regularly updated map reflecting the status of each state. You will find it front and center on our website for easy access.
We encourage you to pray over this map as we, together, seek to finally bring an end to the legal killing of innocent children in our nation.
We are praying that every state becomes abortion free. In working toward that end, we are also recognizing the states that have heartbeat laws in place or in the works. Those laws significantly decrease the rate of abortion, as most women are not aware of their pregnancy or able to schedule an abortion before their baby’s heartbeat is detectable, usually at about six weeks gestation. We pray that states with heartbeat laws will soon take it a step further and protect babies from the moment of conception.
As we conduct our investigations and learn that all abortion clinics have halted abortions within a state, our map is updated to reflect abortion-free status. If abortions resume in such clinics, those updates are made as well, thereby reversing abortion-free status. Sometimes clinics halt abortions and then resume. We saw this happen in the state of South Carolina soon after Roe’s overturn.
Expect to see changes based on legislative action and abortion clinic activity. Remember to check the date and time stamp on the map graphic.
