The Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, which occurred a year ago on Saturday, immediately destroyed nearly 50 years of federal abortion rights.

Just as quickly, it created an avalanche of legal and political consequences by giving state governments and courts the power to decide how reproductive care for residents in their jurisdictions should be regulated.

The result has been a tapestry of laws that differ, often dramatically. That, in turn, has sparked a wave of lawsuits, rulings, ballot measures, and proposed constitutional amendments, all aimed at regulating abortion services.

And the subsequent effect of all this on national politics has been monumental.

Here are five of the biggest state government trends to emerge in the United States in the year since the Women’s Health Organization decision Dobbs v. Jackson.

Bans, Bans, Bans

A variety of abortion bans went into effect rapidly in the days, and sometimes seconds, after Roe was struck down.

In at least 13 states, so-called activation bans were implemented immediately or shortly after the 2022 ruling, though some remained temporarily blocked in court. In nine, prohibitions prior to the 1973 Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion took effect immediately. (And in some, both took effect.)

One such pre-Roe ban is a Wisconsin law — enacted in 1849 (months after Wisconsin was admitted to the union) — banning abortions in almost all cases.

Other states, in the months since the Dobbs decision, have enacted strict new abortion bans. Florida, for example, has banned abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant, though a judge temporarily blocks it.

In total (if states where such bans remain on hold for now are counted), more than a dozen have either banned abortion care almost entirely or no longer have facilities where women can get abortions, as of June 16, according to an NBC News review. of state laws.

Big push for the Democrats

Almost immediately, Democrats seized on the Dobbs ruling as a way to mobilize, court and convert voters, particularly independents, as well as women and suburban swing voters, who support abortion rights.

It was a prominent focus for Democrats in races for the Senate, House and governors in swing states across the country last fall. Many political observers said the strategy was, in large part, the reason the party stayed in the Senate, outperformed in House races and won all but one of the swing state governorships. .

In many states, the issue forced anti-abortion Republican candidates to defend strict abortion bans after the Dobbs decision, and the issue remains a puzzle for the Republican Party.

Earlier this year, the Liberals won a state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin by 11 percentage points, largely due to their candidate’s emphasis on her desire to overturn the 1849 state law and her rival’s lack of will. conservative to get involved on the abortion issue.

Electoral Initiatives that Promote Abortion Protection

Similarly, abortion rights advocates also waged their political battles by placing referendums on the ballot last year that would enshrine reproductive rights in state constitutions.

Those supporters enjoyed a wide variety of victories, winning in all six states that celebrated them, including conservative states like Kentucky and Kansas.

Subsequently, reproductive rights groups, energized by that perfect record last year, set their sights on planning citizen-led ballot initiatives that would enshrine abortion rights in the constitutions of 10 states this year and next.

While some efforts have stalled, many have not. For example, in Ohio, an effort called Protect Choice Ohio has so far overcome all obstacles by placing a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

The proposed amendment is designed to counter Ohio’s «heartbeat bill,» which returned to his place immediately after Roe was struck down last summer. That law, which effectively prohibits most abortions, stays temporarily blocked by a state judge.

Ballot Initiatives That Would Limit Abortion Protection

Those efforts, however, have given way to counter efforts designed to make it more difficult for reproductive rights advocates to amend state constitutions.

In many of the same states, Republican-led legislatures have waged fierce battles to curb the ability of citizens and other lawmakers to place measures on the ballot, a move that progressive groups say is explicitly aimed at making it harder for voters in the red and purple states have a direct voice. on important issues such as the right to abortion.

In Ohio, the GOP-controlled Legislature passed a series of measures last month that could make it more difficult to change the state constitution to protect abortion rights. Ohio voters will now go to the polls on August 8 to decide whether to raise the vote to 60%. limit of support required for the approval of electoral measures that modify the state constitution. Currently, only a majority is needed.

Reproductive rights groups say the measure is designed to make it harder for voters to approve the proposed pro-abortion amendment that will be placed on the ballot in November.

A focus on interstate care

Lawmakers in some blue states have said they have enacted abortion protections in recent months not only for the benefit of their own residents, but also for residents of other states, particularly those in conservative neighbors where newly implemented bans have entered into force.

This year, for example, Democrats in the Minnesota Legislature moved to enshrine the right to abortion into law, a measure that abortion rights advocates have touted as especially crucial for pregnant women in neighboring states (such as Wisconsin, South Dakota, and North Dakota) where abortion became illegal after the Dobbs decision.

For months, North Carolina remained a haven for attention-seeking women; it was only one of two states in the broader South where they could get a legal abortion up to the 20th week of pregnancy. But a 12-week ban will take effect July 1, after the GOP-controlled state Legislature recently overrode a veto of the measure by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Enactment of the 12-week ban could, for many women across the region who can only afford to travel so far, make it impossible to travel for abortion services.

As a result, Virginia will soon be the only remaining state in the region that has not reduced access to abortion care in the last year.

The issue of interstate travel for abortion care became increasingly important after a man was arrested last year on charges of raping a 10-year-old girl, who became pregnant and reportedly traveled from Ohio to Indiana to get an abortion.

However, some states are cracking down on any possibility of such a trip.

Idaho, in April, became the first state to pass a law that explicitly restricts some of its residents from traveling out of state for such care. He new legislation Made assisting a pregnant minor to abort, either through medication or a procedure, in another state punishable by years in prison. In addition, Oklahoma and Texas laws allow lawsuits against persons, anywhere in the US, who help facilitate an abortion within the borders of those states.

Meanwhile, other states, in response to the possibility of punishment by authorities in conservative states with abortion bans, have enacted measures designed to protect doctors within their own borders who provide care to out-of-state residents.

That includes a law signed last month by Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, one of the few Republican governors who moved to codify any abortion rights in recent years, that protects abortion rights for out-of-state patients seeking care in the state, as well as for providers within the state.