map of states that have introduced anti-choice laws

Has your state introduced an anti-choice bill yet this year?

It’s not just Congress that’s gotten straight back to the oh-so-important work of chipping away at our reproductive rights in the new year. Lawmakers in 28 states have introduced more than 100 anti-choice bills so far in 2015, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 

map of states that have introduced anti-choice laws

At this rate, 2015 is looking like it will continue the trend that we’ve seen the last four years, during which states have passed a record-breaking 231 laws restricting abortion. Despite this onslaught, a recent Gallup poll shows that many Republicans want abortion laws to be even more strict. Ironically, their dissatisfaction has increased during the time when state laws have, in fact, become stricter. And Gallup suggest the results might have more to do with having a pro-choice Democrat in the White House than anything else.

As Kelly Baden, director of state advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told RH Reality Check, “These results really signify a misperception among respondents about the current role that states are playing in abortion policy. We need to do a better job of making clear the reality of what abortion access looks like on the ground.”

That reality is bad — and constantly threatening to get worse.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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