Voters across the country supported abortion rights. It might not matter.

What does it mean, then, that abortion rights will be expanded in some states and further enshrined and protected in others if Trump takes the White House? And how protected will people in these states be if Trump does what many advisers and supporters have urged him to do and enacts a nationwide ban on abortion, with or without passing new laws? State abortion protections could be to guarantee access to something that is inaccessible or a federal crime to access it.

To answer this question, it is first important to understand that the problems we face with abortion rights are bigger than Trump's. During the campaign, Harris and her surrogates repeatedly told voters that Trump was anti-abortion. They called state abortion bans “Trump abortion bans.” When women in Texas died because they were denied abortions, it was widely seen as evidence of the horrors that… Dobbs The decision of a new Supreme Court with three Trump appointees had an impact. In fact, Texas' near-total abortion ban was already in effect before the end of the year roe. It may have seemed politically useful, but not all the bad things that have happened since then related to abortion have Dobbs is because of it Dobbsor Trump. And despite this story, which was initially only partially true, voters still seemed happy to vote for Trump.

Even people in states where the right to abortion is now protected in the state constitution face other dangers. The Nevada constitutional amendment, for example, would not change the outcome of one of the stories that sparked outrage in the run-up to the election: a mother of three who struggled to find housing for her family who was arrested and prosecuted in 2018 for an apparent stillbirth was pursued. Prosecutors used a 1911 law that effectively criminalizes self-performed abortions after 24 weeks and is still in effect.