Health Care

How abortion rights laws changed in 2023

A report chronicled the legislation, litigation and ballot measures that have changed laws governing the right to an abortion.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and other state leaders, at an April 18, 2023, press conference, announce abortion rights protections they will look to put in place ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. (Screen shot of a livestream of the event, courtesy of the California governor’s office)

States passed hundreds of reproductive health measures in 2023, the first full year of legislative sessions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.

The Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization ruling unleashed a “tumultuous” burst of legislative activity, encompassing debates about abortion rights, gender-affirming care, access to contraception and data privacy, according to a report from the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research and policy organization that supports abortion rights.

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