State abortion laws are being deliberately designed to move through the court system. Conservative legislators in states such as Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, and Utah have passed restrictions, including heartbeat bills and earlier time limits, in the hope that at least one will be challenged and climb the courts to the Supreme Court. There, a conservative majority might strike down much or all of Roe v. Wade. None of these laws is yet in effect, and all are expected to face lengthy court battles. Kentucky's was already blocked by a liberal judge. The climb is steep, since earlier restrictions in North Dakota (2013) and Iowa (2018) were struck down, so the wording of the new bills must differ to avoid the same fate. Progressive states such as New York, Vermont, and Illinois have meanwhile codified abortion rights in state law, so that access would continue even if the federal ruling were overturned. The outcome ultimately depends on whether the conservative justices have the courage and political will to overturn Roe. The expectation is that most, if not all, of these measures will probably fail in the end, though the hope is to be proven wrong.

The Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization is presented as a legal and constitutional ruling, not a moral one. Justice Alito's opinion held that the Constitution is silent on abortion, so under the 10th Amendment the matter returns to the states and the people's elected representatives. The Court declined to say when prenatal life gains rights or when life begins, and it stated that it could not let predictions about society's reaction influence its decision. Its task was only to interpret the law and apply longstanding principles of stare decisis. Alito's quoted language says Roe was egregiously wrong from the start, that it rested on weak reasoning, and that it usurped through raw judicial power a question the Constitution leaves to the people. Abortion is acknowledged as a profound moral question, but the Court treated its own role as limited to law. The ruling is praised as one of the Court's best decisions and as a kind of legal repentance by the judicial branch. Its limits are stressed, however: the nation's morality is untouched, the issue now varies state by state, and roughly half of citizens still accept abortion. God's judgment therefore still hangs over the nation, and prayer for changed hearts is urged because the larger struggle continues.