One year after Roe ruling, what's the status of abortion access in Minnesota's border states?

Minnesota is often referred to as an island of abortion access in the Midwest.

Just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June, a Ramsey county judge struck down a handful of restrictions on the procedure that had been in place for decades. This spring, the DFL-led Legislature went even further, stripping many of those restrictions from the statute books while codifying abortion rights into law and protecting people who travel here for the procedure.

That record stands in stark contrast to Minnesota's neighboring states, including two that immediately banned the procedure after Roe was struck down. But ongoing court battles and ballot initiatives could restore abortion access in those states, even as conservative legislators continue to pass and debate further restrictions on the procedure.

Here's where access to abortion currently stands in the four states that share a border with Minnesota:

Wisconsin

Since Roe was overturned, the state of Wisconsin has been operating under a nearly total abortion ban from a law dating back to the 1800s. Abortion providers in the state immediately halted appointments, and state law bars residents of the state from receiving medication abortion in the mail. Wisconsin law does allow travel outside of the state for abortion access.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, argued in court in May that the 19th-century abortion law shouldn't be enforced because it conflicts with less restrictive state laws passed more recently. He cited a law from 1985 that creates criminal penalties for providing an abortion after the point of fetal viability. A Republican prosecutor urged the courts to drop the lawsuit. The ruling in the case is still pending.

South Dakota

South Dakota's trigger ban, passed in 2005, kicked in immediately after Roe was reversed, banning all abortions in the state except to "preserve the life of the pregnant female."

Outside of those circumstances, it's considered a felony to get or perform an abortion in the state. Before the Supreme Court ruling, South Dakota had a single Planned Parenthood location in Sioux Falls that provided abortion access, which has since stopped procedures. It's still legal in South Dakota to travel to another state for the procedure.

Abortion rights supporters in the state are collecting signatures for a proposed 2024 amendment that would enshrine abortion rights in the South Dakota Constitution, with restrictions after the first and second trimester. If put on the ballot and passed by voters, that measure would supersede the state's trigger law. Abortion opponents have launched a campaign to counter that effort.

North Dakota

In April, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed a nearly total abortion ban, restricting the procedure with slim exceptions in cases of rape, incest or a medical emergency — but only up to six weeks of pregnancy. The new law, which makes it a felony to get an abortion, kicked in immediately.

Republicans said the new restrictions are a direct response to a state Supreme Court ruling in May, which blocked a trigger ban from taking effect in midst of a lawsuit over its constitutionality. Abortion rights groups have amended their lawsuit against the trigger ban to also challenge the new abortion restrictions, arguing the restrictions violate the North Dakota Constitution.

The state lost its only abortion provider last summer, when the Red River Women's Clinic moved its operations across the border from Fargo to Moorhead, Minn.

Iowa

Abortion remains legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. In a rare split decision in June, the Iowa Supreme Court declined to reinstate a six-week abortion ban that had been previously blocked by state courts.

But new abortion restrictions could be coming. In response to the court ruling, Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said that "the fight is not over." She and the GOP-led Legislature could return for a special session to pass further restrictions, which would likely be challenged again in court.

Republicans could also proceed with a proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution to explicitly bar abortion access. Lawmakers have approved the amendment once, but changing the state's Constitution requires them to pass it through two consecutive sessions of the Legislature. Republicans would need to pass it again before next year so it can be put to a public vote.