Don't be fooled: A national abortion ban is still the GOP goal

The fight continues to closely track Project 2025’s plan to eviscerate the right to bodily autonomy across the nation.

By Jennifer Weiss-Wolf and Jennifer Klein

To mark the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, last week The Contrarian covered several of the statistics and stories that sum up the state of abortion rights in America in 2025.

This week, I’ve joined with Jennifer Klein, who served as director of the White House Gender Policy Council under President Joe Biden and helped lead the administration’s response to Dobbs. In addition to beating back five attempts by Congress to pass a national abortion ban, the White House leveraged executive power to protect access to medication abortion and emergency care, safeguard travel for abortion, expand contraception access, and fight for patient privacy and safety.

Of course, most of these safeguards have been rolled back by the current administration. As President Donald Trump tries to convince the public that abortion is now a state issue, the grim reality is that the fight continues to closely track Project 2025’s plan to eviscerate the right to bodily autonomy across the nation.

Federal funding for abortion providers remains under attack in the “big, beautiful bill,” which passed the Senate yesterday by a single vote. The ability of 1.1 million patients nationwide to obtain vital health care at a Planned Parenthood facility is now at grave risk—mostly in states where abortion is legal. Make no mistake, this is a steady, coordinated attempt to ban abortion in every state by any means.

Last week, the Supreme Court issued yet another consequential abortion ruling, Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which enables states to exclude health care providers from Medicaid, thereby limiting patients’ ability to select a trusted provider and further restricting access to reproductive and other health care.

The vast majority of Americans support abortion and reproductive freedom, yet state lawmakers continue to introduce and pass laws stripping citizens of these rights. Providers face confusing, punitive rules that might lead them to delay or deny care. Planned Parenthood and other providers face budget cuts that threaten to restrict healthcare access for millions of Americans.

These are not isolated outcomes. Rather, they reveal a coordinated national strategy. Here are five myths we believe need to be dispelled to counter the challenges that lie ahead.

Myth #1: After Dobbs, abortion is a state issue.

The battle has continued in force at the federal level, where abortion remains under attack through litigation and policy rollbacks. There’s a salami-slicing strategy underway, one lawsuit or regulation at a time, designed to fly under the radar.

We’ve seen a federal judge strike down a rule guaranteeing privacy protections for abortion data—and lawsuits filed to restrict access to medication abortion in a court in Texas where plaintiffs explicitly sought out a judge likely to issue a nationwide ban. The Trump administration rescinded guidance put in place during the Biden administration to require hospitals to provide emergency abortions, sowing unnecessary confusion. Federal funding for abortion providers remains under attack in the “big, beautiful bill.” Far from a states’ rights matter, this is a steady, coordinated attempt to ban abortion in every state by other means.

Myth #2: People can just travel to “abortion states” to get care.

That’s becoming harder, even beyond the financial costs that have long made travel prohibitive for some patients. Five states introduced bills that would criminalize those who help minors get abortions across state lines; Idaho and Tennessee already passed such laws. In Texas—the state with the highest number of patients fleeing for care—a sheriff’s office used license plate cameras to track a woman suspected of self-managing her abortion. For immigrants and communities of color already under surveillance, these bans add another layer of potential criminalization. The goal is to isolate people, punish helpers, and make travel legally and logistically risky.

Myth #3: Medication abortion will remain available.

Mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortion, is extremely safe and used in over 60% of U.S. abortions. Precisely because it’s so effective and accessible, it’s under fierce attack. Anti-abortion lawmakers are spreading absurd claims, like medication contaminating water supplies or causing infertility. Groups are pressing the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its longstanding approval of mifepristone, and the FDA has launched a review. Confusion and disinformation are powerful tools, and they are working. Many people don’t even know medication abortion is still legal in their state.

And though many believe that blue states are safe havens, that is not entirely true either. So far in 2025, over 25 states introduced bills to restrict medication abortion, even in states where abortion is legal. These include bans on telehealth and mailed pills or imposing unnecessary requirements like in-person visits or ultrasounds. Some won’t pass, but they flood the system with misinformation and create confusion. Again, the chaos is the point: this is a deliberate and coordinated national effort; even in supportive states, access is being chipped away.

Myth #4: Emergency abortions are still always available.

The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, requires hospitals in certain emergency circumstances to provide life-saving care, including abortion. The Biden administration issued guidance to clarify what is covered under the law and vigorously enforced it, but the Trump administration has rescinded that guidance. Though EMTALA is still in effect, in states with vague laws or extreme abortion bans, doctors hesitate, patients suffer, and care is delayed, even in life-threatening situations.

Myth #5: This isn’t about IVF, it’s just about abortion.

Those opposed to abortion have long had a strategy in place to establish legal rights for fetuses and embryos, which not only lays the foundation for a national abortion ban but also has far other, far-reaching implications. Since Dobbs, states have introduced dozens of bills defining life at conception, threatening miscarriage care and in vitro fertilization. Despite Trump’s assertions he is the “fertility president,” he has yet to deliver on the proposals in his executive order (which are long overdue, by the way). And there are judges chomping at the bit to leverage state laws—like in Alabama, where the state Supreme Court ruled last year that embryos are “children,” causing IVF clinics to stop services and the legislature to scramble.

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Don’t buy the narrative that there is anything benign about eviscerating a federal right—or that states are a destination for guaranteed democratic outcomes, especially when it comes to abortion. We are in the throes of a full-on nationwide assault that requires our utmost and sustained attention, vigilance, outrage, and response.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU School of Law. She also leads strategy and partnerships at Ms. Magazine. Jennifer Klein, a professor of professional practice at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, was director of the White House Gender Policy Council under President Joe Biden.

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