Anti-abortion groups want Trump to quickly take executive action to re-impose federal restrictions from his first term; Republicans in Congress are poised to send him new abortion legislation; and his Justice Department will need to decide whether to continue defending Biden-era abortion policies across several ongoing federal cases or drop them completely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of these actions could empower states trying to restrict abortion, making it even more difficult for women to access abortion care, but others could impose new federal roadblocks on states seeking to expand reproductive rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou could have versions of the story where the Trump administration doesn\u2019t really take aggressive action on abortion and does things that look more like reversing Biden-era policies and restoring Trump-era policies,\u201d said Mary Ziegler, an abortion law expert and professor at the University of California Davis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd there\u2019s a scenario where a second Trump administration goes much, much further on abortion, in court and outside of it. And we don\u2019t really know which of those realities is going to be the one we see, in part because as much as Trump has been telegraphing his plans for returning to office, he hasn\u2019t really been particularly eager to talk about reproductive issues,\u201d Ziegler added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advocates on either side of the issue don\u2019t expect the Trump administration to stay out of the fight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUntil taxpayers no longer pay for abortion and programs no longer mandate it, abortion is federal,\u201d said Kristan Hawkins, president Students for Life Action, an anti-abortion group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Dobbs decision makes it easier for the states to engage, and we welcome that, but that didn\u2019t shift the responsibility away from the federal government.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement her organization was anticipating \u201ceven more extreme actions\u201d from the Trump administration than his first term, including attempts to make it much harder to access medication abortion, or to completely rescind approval for the drugs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will be in court every day for the next four years, if that\u2019s what it takes,\u201d Northup said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Congress, the Republican-controlled House and Senate have big plans for passing anti-abortion legislation and sending it to Trump\u2019s desk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First on the list is a measure that would mandate health care providers try to preserve the life of an infant in the rare case that a baby is born after a failed abortion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill was panned by reproductive medical experts and Democrats for interfering with complex medical decisions between patients and their physicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans passed it in the House last year, but it was blocked in the Democrat-controlled Senate. With a three-seat GOP advantage this time, it\u2019s possible the bill could move forward, with the expectation that Trump would sign it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, House and Senate Republicans may find an easier path to including abortion restrictions in government spending and must-pass policy bills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a strategy House Republicans\u2002<\/u><\/a>tried last year,<\/u><\/a> as they attempted to restrict the military\u2019s reimbursement for abortion-related travel, reverse the ability of Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals to provide abortions, and change how the abortion drug mifepristone was dispensed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The anti-abortion provisions and amendments never made it past the Democratic Senate, but this year could be different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the legal front, Trump will inherit lawsuits that could help determine access to abortion for millions of women, with voters having little say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In many instances the cases are being argued in front of judges appointed by Trump in his first term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The stakes were made clear on Thursday, when a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas allowed a trio of red states to sue the Food and Drug Administration over its actions to expand access to mifepristone, one of two pills used in medication abortion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk said Idaho, Missouri and Kansas have legal standing to bring a case to Amarillo, Texas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, the Supreme Court dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit, saying that private parties had no legal basis to challenge access to mifepristone. But Kacsmaryk kept the case alive by allowing the red states to intervene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n