Donald Trump’s Election Heralds a New Abortion Landscape

Trump has pledged to appoint antiabortion Justices to the Supreme Court and suggested that those jurists would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, thus allowing states to again criminalize abortion.

He also supports a federal legislative ban on late-term abortions and has pledged to make the Hyde Amendment–an annually renewed statute that bans almost all taxpayer funding for abortions–into permanent law.

Repealing or amending the Affordable Care Act, which forces health insurers to cover contraceptives, could make it harder for some women to get birth control. The GOP Congress has long sought to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, a major provider of family planning for the poor.

Trump defended Planned Parenthood in the primaries but announced in September that he supports federal defunding of the group if it continues to provide abortion services. “This is the gravest situation I’ve ever seen,” says Donna Crane of NARAL Pro-Choice America.