US states could extend legal ban with bar on travelling for procedure, experts warn

As abortion bans proliferate in states around the US, some are likely to go even further than just ending abortion in their own jurisdictions by taking aim at the growing numbers of people seeking procedures and medications out of state, experts warn.

- Melody Schreiber

If, as the bombshell leak of its private vote suggests, the supreme court weakens or overturns Roe v Wade the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion - in an upcoming decision on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, states will be left with a patchwork of laws that are likely to lead to legal challenges.

Further restrictions are likely to centre on patients who leave their state to obtain legal abortions in other states, or who order medications to manage their abortions at home.

Lawmakers in Missouri weighed legislation early this year that would allow individuals to sue anyone helping a patient cross state lines for an abortion. The law was ultimately blocked in the state's legislature, but experts expect such legislation to gain more support if Roe is weakened or overturned.

"I think states are... going to want to ban abortion for their citizens as much as they can, which would mean stopping them from travelling,” said David Cohen, professor at Drexel University's Kline School of Law and lead author of a forthcoming article on cross-state legal issues that could arise in the abortion context.