The looming fight over a federal abortion ban

The abortion fight will not end with different laws in different states. Here's why.

Protesters.
(Image credit: Illustrated | SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images, Dzyuba/iStock, Jessicahyde/iStock)

During the 2016 presidential debates, then-candidate Donald Trump envisioned a future in which abortion rights would "go back to the states, and the states [would] make a determination." For many who oppose the overturning of Roe v. Wade, this is assumed to be conservatives' logical end goal: turning America into a patchwork quilt of abortion rights tailored to the values of individual conservative, moderate, and liberal states. But the signing on Wednesday by Alabama's governor of one of the strictest abortion bans in the country shows such an assumption is dangerously incorrect.

Supporters of extreme abortion bans aren't just trying to get the conservative-majority Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and make the legality of abortion a state-by-state decision. The end game is to provoke federal legislation that would ban abortions nationwide.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.