Abortion legislation 2011

By June 2011, most state legislatures will have adjourned for the year, and some for two years. What did politicians who campaigned by claiming to be pro-life actually accomplish?

The Ten Best

State or Nation	Legislation	Comments	Politics
Russia	"The changes require abortion providers to devote 10 percent of any advertising to describing the dangers of abortion to a woman’s health, and the changes make it illegal to describe abortion as a safe medical procedure."	Russian politicians indicated that more pro-life laws will be passed too.	A bit ironic? The communist Soviet Union had the highest abortion rate in the world.
Kansas	Requires local hospital privileges before an abortion can be performed, establishes meaningful parental consent, stops some insurance funding of abortion, adds ultrasound disclosure, bans webcast abortions, requires facility standards, and prohibits late-term abortions based on fetal pain.	This may curtail the large numbers traveling from Missouri to have abortions in Kansas, due to its prior lack of protections.	A Democratic Governor and Attorney General were replaced by Republicans.
Indiana	Defunded Planned Parenthood, including (unlike Kansas and North Carolina) banning funding of Medicaid beneficiaries for services rendered by Planned Parenthood	Any organization which performs abortions is ineligible to receive tax dollars.	The Republican Governor Mitch Daniels didn't propose it, but did sign it into law.
North Carolina	Cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, overriding its Democratic Governor's veto to do so. The Democratic Governor also vetoed a sonogram law and a requirement of a 24-hour waiting period after state-mandated counseling before having an abortion, and legislature seems to be one vote short of being able to override.	Became the third state, after Kansas and Indiana above, to terminate this funding for the nation's largest abortion provider	North Carolina is a must-win state for Obama in 2012, so much so that the Democratic National Convention will be there
South Dakota	Reduces coercive abortions by establishing a 3-day waiting period plus counseling by pregnancy help centers.	The abortion industry is not fooling any pro-life leaders in South Dakota.
Nebraska	Banned remote webcast abortions and slightly strengthened parental consent.
Ohio	House and Senate have passed a ban on abortion after 20 weeks gestation, which would affect about 600 abortions annually. The House also passed a bill prohibiting abortion if a heartbeat is detected (there are exceptions), which could become the strongest pro-life law in the nation.		Governor, House, Senate are all Republican-led assuring legal victories
New Jersey	Cut $7.5 million in funding for Planned Parenthood, despite pro-abortion control of the Democratic legislature; also made "Choose Life" plates available.		Governor Chris Christie has been good on this issue, although he has not also taken steps to reform the pro-abortion regulations.
Utah	Expanded the freedom of conscience of providers and hospitals to reject abortion.	Strong leadership in Utah on this issue enables it to benefit from the lowest abortion rate in the nation
Texas	Requires performance of a sonogram for viewing by a woman before she can give consent for an abortion.		Rick Perry might campaign for president on this issue.
Florida	a weak ultrasound bill (patients can be coached to decline seeing images), a ban on insurance coverage for abortion in a future ObamaCare State exchange, and restrictions on bypass of parental notification for abortions by underage girls; a ban on abortion funding was set for going on the ballot in 2012	Lots of fanfare, but not much achieved	Is this the best an all-Republican statehouse and governor can do?

Honorable Mention

State	Legislation	Comments	Political change
Alabama	Bans abortions beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy	affects only 1.5% of abortions	Republican gains in 2010 elections

The Ten Worst

State	Legislation	Comments
Tennessee	Despite big majorities claiming to be pro-life, they passed no abortion law and instead gave pro-aborts a gift by approving putting abortion on the ballot (SJR 127), where the abortion industry can defeat pro-life candidates and the referendum by spending money on its defeat	There's been a lack of socially conservative legislation for years there
Arizona	Despite big majorities claiming to be pro-life, Arizona passed only three worthless laws: HB 2416, HB 2384, and HB 2443.	The RINO Speaker of the House Adams -- now running for Congress -- refused to allow a vote on meaningful pro-life legislation, despite passing by big majorities in committees.
Missouri	By a 2/3rds vote and without a veto by the Democratic governor, the legislature closed the loophole of the mental health basis for a late-term abortion, requiring physical harm to the mother in the absence of the abortion as the only justification, but this decision still remains in the discretion of the abortionists; in prior sessions the Missouri legislature has passed far better laws.	A RINO was Speaker of the House.
Oklahoma	Almost nothing, despite claiming to have the most pro-life legislature (and a pro-life governor) in the nation.
Wisconsin	Despite having the votes to pass any conservative law, it has done nothing on the issue of abortion.
Georgia	Not a single pro-life bill passed, despite the governor and many legislators winning elections by claiming to be pro-life
North Dakota	Pretended to support a ban on abortion, but actually passed nothing
Wyoming	Though supposedly a conservative state, it failed even to pass an ultrasound bill, with a Republican legislator casting the deciding vote against it in the Senate.
California
Hawaii		House, Senate & Governor are all pro-choice. Given an (A) by NARAL

See also

• Abortion ranking by state
• Sonogram laws

External Links

• State Champions For Life