The legal and practical impacts of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health in 2023

The impacts of “returning the issue of abortion to the states” are both legal and practical.  Legally, the Dobbs decision has set in motion numerous legal battles involving those seeking to prevent Americans assisting others to obtain abortion care, even in states where that care is constitutionally enshrined.  As a result, helping a person access care is being construed as a crime even where accessing that care is (still) a constitutional right.  The impact on interstate law, federal supremacy, and preemption is already set to be immense.  The differences between states could not be wider, raising the question of how individuals can possess a legal right to and a legal liability for the same conduct.

Practically, the initial numbers on abortions post-Dobbs suggest the while the number of abortions has actually not gone down, the impact of new abortion bans has increased infant mortality and made maternal health care harder to obtain.

The legal landscape related to abortion now turns on issues of standing, jurisdiction, First Amendment, the right to travel, conflict of laws – all notably constitutional and prudential issues not typically left to the people to decide.  Meanwhile, the numbers continue to bear out that restricting reproductive rights does not actually correlate with a reduction in abortions, or in positive outcomes for mothers and infants.  How other constitutional rights are impacted by the Dobbs decision is now the question at hand.