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7 States Passed a Record Number of Abortion Restrictions This Week

The 28 laws signed in under one week accounts for 46 percent of the abortion restrictions passed this year, according to a report.

[PHOTO: Exterior of Oklahoma capitol building]
During an unprecedented week of abortion restrictions, the bills passed in Oklahoma include a near-total ban on abortion, a six-week abortion ban, and restrictions on abortion clinics. Jordan McAlister/Getty Images

The Guttmacher Institute released sobering data on the unprecedented assault on abortion rights that Republicans are waging right now, with states passing anti-choice laws faster than we’ve ever seen—including multiple restrictions in some states.

This week alone, 28 new abortion restrictions were signed into law in seven states, according to Guttmacher’s report. You read that right—28 laws between Monday and Thursday. That accounts for a whopping 46 percent of the restrictions passed so far this year.

Some of the laws include:

  • a near-total ban on abortion in Oklahoma
  • six-week abortion bans in Idaho and Oklahoma
  • a 20-week ban in Montana
  • a ban on abortion for non-lethal genetic anomalies in Arizona
  • restrictions on medication abortion in Arizona, Indiana, and Montana
  • restrictions on abortion clinics in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, and Oklahoma

In Arkansas, the governor has now signed 20 abortion restrictions into law this year, which ties Louisiana’s 1978 record for most restrictions passed in a single year. In Texas, 17 anti-abortion bills have passed at least one chamber. And it’s only April.

From Guttmacher’s analysis:

Due to the numbing effect from the onslaught of abortion restrictions enacted over the past 10 years, the level of damage to abortion rights and access may not be immediately apparent. It is no accident that 89% of the 61 restrictions enacted this year were in states already considered to be hostile or very hostile toward abortion rights. The 2021 abortion restrictions largely build on earlier ones, as each additional restriction increases patients’ logistical, financial and legal barriers to care, especially where entire clusters of states are hostile to abortion.

Across the country, over 500 anti-abortion bills have been introduced in state legislatures so far this year, including almost 150 bans. Sixty-one restrictions, including eight abortion bans, have been enacted in 13 states.

So what does this all mean?

Anti-abortion lawmakers are frothing at the mouth to restrict abortion at a rate we’ve never seen before—and with a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court and the lower courts packed with Trump judges committed to undermining abortion rights at every turn, it could be a catastrophic year for abortion access in the United States.

This post was adapted from a Twitter thread.