More than two dozen states were expected to ban abortion post-Roe. Courts are keeping it legal in several of them

In the year since the monumental US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the federal constitutional right to abortion nationwide, more than a dozen US states have banned or severely restricted access to the procedure. Abortion remains legal in seven states that were expected to ban abortion after Roe was overturned — bans are held up in courts in six of those states. In the seventh, Michigan voters approved a measure to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitution.

State courthouses have since emerged as the battleground for both restricting and expanding access to abortion. Forty lawsuits challenging abortion bans have been filed in 22 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University and the Center for Reproductive Rights as of June 9.

Months before the court heard arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Clinic Organization, 26 states were likely or certain to ban abortion if Roe were overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights.

But one year later, abortion remains legal in seven of those 26 states as courts debate whether old — and new — bans should take effect.

Overall, 14 states have now banned or severely restricted access to the procedure, and six have set gestational limits.

“Bans have eliminated access to all or some abortions in 20 states, with more to come — leaving one in three women, as well as more trans and nonbinary people, without access to this fundamental right,” said Ianthe Metzger, director of state advocacy communications at Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

As of February, 24.5 million women of reproductive age live in states with abortion bans, according to abortion advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Of the 24 states…