It’s been nearly two years since the Supreme Court announced its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling overturning federal protection for the right to an abortion, marking a momentous victory for anti-abortion activists. That decision was just the beginning – some anti-abortion groups, like Students for Life of America and the National Right to Life, would go on to advocate, in many cases successfully, for anti-abortion laws in every state.
After Dobbs, anti-abortion activists had a head start to their advocacy in 13 states, including Mississippi and South Dakota. State legislators in those places passed laws over the past few years to outlaw abortion shortly after a potential decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had given federal constitutional protection to abortion rights since 1973. Those laws, known as “trigger laws,” automatically banned abortion under most, if not all, circumstances once Roe was overturned in June 2022.
