Fairbanks. Guttmacher Institute. July 2023.
Though some states had previously enacted abortion protections, many states with elected officials supportive of abortion rights did not begin to prepare for the loss of federal abortion protections until a draft of the Dobbs decision was leaked, on May 2, 2022. The abrupt and dire change in abortion access signaled by the leak motivated state policymakers, including governors, to take swift, decisive action. At a point in the year when half of state legislatures were no longer in session and therefore largely unable to enact laws protecting abortion rights, supportive states had limited opportunities to mitigate the damage done by Dobbs. Consequently, 14 governors have used executive orders since the Dobbs leak to prevent the enforcement of out-of-state abortion restrictions in their states.