Roe V Wade: What Happens In VA, DC If Ruling Is Overturned

WASHINGTON, DC — A furious battle is shaping up in the United States Senate over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. He will be questioned about his position on Roe v Wade and whether he would support overturning the landmark ruling that legalized abortion in the United States.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said there’s every reason to believe Kavanaugh would overturn Roe, and President Donald Trump has said in the past that he will only appoint pro-life judges to the bench, giving pro-choice Americans every right to worry.

If the ruling were to be overturned, abortion regulations would vary by state.

Information analyzed by Axios shows that abortion access in Virginia and the District of Columbia is unclear if Roe V Wade was abolished. Virginia has no abortion statute and no state supreme court ruling on the issue, but it has not moved to pass laws that would automatically make abortion illegal in the event that the ruling is overturned. According to Axios, South Dakota, North Dakota, Louisiana and Mississippi have such laws in place.

The affect on District of Columbia residents is also murky, where the district's laws are subject to Congressional approval, Axios says.

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According to the Guttmacher Institute, Virginia’s abortion laws include several restrictions:

• Most woman must receive state-directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage her from having an abortion, and then wait 24 hours before the procedure is provided.
• Health plans offered in the state’s health exchange under the Affordable Care Act can only cover abortion if the woman's life is endangered, or in cases of rape or incest.
• Abortion is covered in insurance policies for public employees only in cases of life endangerment, rape, incest or fetal impairment.
• The parent of a minor must consent and be notified before an abortion is provided.
• Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape, incest or fetal impairment.
• A woman must undergo an ultrasound at least 24 hours before obtaining an abortion; the provider must offer her the option to view the image.

In DC, public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest as of May 1, 2018.

According to Axios, 17 states have either laws or court rulings that protect access to abortion regardless of Roe, four states have laws that would immediately make abortion illegal if Roe is overturned and seven states have pre-Roe abortion restrictions. The remaining 22 states and Washington D.C. have no clear regulations in place.

A new poll from NBC and The Wall Street Journal shows that support for Roe v Wade has hit an all-time high. According to the poll, 88 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of independent and 52 percent of Republicans support the ruling.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he expects confirmation hearings for Kavanaugh to begin in late August or early September and for Kavanaugh to be confirmed by Oct. 1.

Abortion isn’t the only issue that has Republicans and Democrats sparring over Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Democrats are demanding access to paperwork from Kavanaugh's tenure as staff secretary in Bush's White House, on the 2000 election presidential recount and on special counsel Kenneth Starr's probe of President Bill Clinton. The tally could stretch at least 1 million pages. Democratic lawmakers are pushing for more information before meeting one-on-one with Kavanaugh.

And with a thin majority in the Senate and the absence of John McCain, Republicans can’t afford to lose even a single member of the caucus if all Democrats vote against him. The votes of Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, both pro-choice Republicans, will be closely watched as the two senators, along with McCain, cast the nay votes that prevented the repeal of Obamacare.

Reporting from The Associated Press was used in this report.

PHOTO: Pro-life activists try to block the signs of pro-choice activists in front of the the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2018 March for Life January 19, 2018 in Washington, DC. Activists gathered in the nation's capital for the annual event to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in 1973. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)