The Divided States of America by Michael L. Brown for Ask Dr Brown
I recently wrote about the coming civil war over the issue of abortion, and day by day, state by state, the divide is getting more pronounced and more extreme.
Let’s take a look at a map of America to see where things stand at the moment.
As broken down by NBC News, the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia – forming a connected chain – along with Utah, have passed strong pro-life bills. (In the vocabulary of NBC, of course, these are “anti-abortion” laws.)
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Of interest is the fact that, in most of these states, the bill passed with overwhelming approval in each of the legislative houses. For example, the Alabama bill, prohibiting all abortions and with severe penalties for abortion practitioners, passed by a vote of 74-3 in the House and 25-6 in the Senate. That’s what you call decisive.
In Missouri, where all abortions after 8 weeks were prohibited, the bill passed by a margin of 110-44 in the House and 24-10 in the Senate.
In Louisiana, which prohibits abortions once the baby’s heartbeat is detected (one of 5 states to pass this law), the vote was 79-23 vote in the House and 31-5 in the Senate. This bill is also noteworthy in that it was signed into a law by a Democrat governor.
And there are 6 more states which have considered (or are considering) new pro-life legislation (Florida, South Carolina, Minnesota, West Virginia, and Tennessee; a pro-life bill did not succeed in Maryland). Grouping these on the map along with the 8 states that have already passed pro-life bills makes for a solid block, especially in the southeastern United States.
If we add in Texas, where a very strong pro-life bill failed to pass in April, that block becomes even bigger.
A battle is also taking place in North Carolina (again, adding to this significant block of states), where legislators are trying to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the Born Alive Protection Act.
It’s also significant that there are presently 6 states with only one abortion clinic (North and South Dakota, Missouri, Mississippi, Kentucky, and West Virginia), with Missouri poised to close their last clinic until stopped by a federal judge just days ago.
Without question, major strides are being taken by pro-lifers, and sooner or later, one of these state laws will be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, potentially leading to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
