Everything You Need to Know About the State of Abortion Access this Holiday Season

The Supreme Court took up two abortion cases this term: one about Texas’s six-week abortion ban, Senate Bill 8 (SB8) ( U.S. v. Texas & Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson ), and a case about Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban ( Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org .). These cases are not just about abortion access in Texas and Mississippi.

The Supreme Court and Constitutional Rights

Mississippi has asked the Court to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. If Mississippi officials get their way, states across the country could outright ban abortion. But even if the Court doesn’t eliminate the right to abortion, the Texas ban offers states a new way to ban abortion even with Roe still in effect. Taken together, the Court is sending a clear signal: the constitutional right to abortion may soon be a thing of the past.

The Impact of Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8)

SB8 bans abortion around six weeks into pregnancy and allows citizens (ahem, like Uncle Bob) to sue ANYONE who helps someone get an abortion in Texas for a MINIMUM of $10,000 . Texas politicians came up with a scheme to avoid the courts by making private citizens—and not officials from the state—the enforcers of this draconian abortion ban. Basically, since it’s individual people and not the state taking away your constitutional rights, Texas politicians argue that there is no constitutional problem here.

In a sick turn of events, a notoriously hostile-to-abortion federal appeals court and the Supreme Court said the law couldn’t be blocked. When the court finally issued a decision on December 10 (nearly a month later), they had the audacity to Allow SB8 to remain in effect. In its decision, a majority of the Court—led by President Trump’s Justices—basically greenlit the law and said federal courts can’t stop it. Just in the month following SB8 going into effect, the number of abortions fell by half and wait times for abortion care appointments increased in surrounding states, as Texans were pushed out of state to get this essential health care.

Regarding the current legal status, the Court only allowed the abortion providers to continue their case against just a few Texas officials. But they can continue on the narrowest of grounds and it really doesn’t give providers a way to stop the bounty hunter lawsuits. This means the whole chilling impact of SB8—the risk of being sued while litigation plays out—is still happening.

The Deceptive Practices of Anti-Abortion Centers

Anti-abortion centers (a.k.a. “crisis pregnancy centers” and a host of other names) are ideologically-driven establishments that take public funding—Georgians’ tax dollars—to wrongly pose as unbiased health services, then give inaccurate and sometimes harmful information to pregnant people who are seeking support. We are shining a light on anti-abortion centers’ deceptive practices and seeking to hold them accountable. These centers appear to be local but are part of a global anti-abortion network.

Regarding the scope of these facilities:

• Nationwide, anti-abortion centers outnumber real abortion clinics by 3 to 1.
• In Georgia, that ratio is even higher — closer to 7 to 1.
• Almost 2/3 promoted false and/or biased medical claims about pregnancy, abortion, contraception, and reproductive health care providers.
• Anti-abortion centers provide virtually no medical care.

Georgia must respect pregnant people’s right to make their own decisions and support them to be healthy in pursuing those decisions. When someone is pregnant or facing the possibility of pregnancy, they need unbiased information, real options, and quality healthcare for both birth and abortion, as well as access to material support for their families if they need it.

Data on Abortion Access and Anti-Abortion Centers