Abortion ruling puts spotlight on gerrymandered legislatures

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

52% : State legislatures will be in the spotlight as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling giving the power to regulate abortion to the states
47% : Unsure about their legislative prospects, abortion rights advocates are gathering signatures for a November ballot initiative that would create a state constitutional right to abortion, allowing its regulation only "after fetal viability.
38% : But a fight is brewing over an 1849 state law -- which had been unenforceable until Roe v. Wade was overruled -- that bans abortion except to save the life of the woman.
36% : "Our decision returns the issue of abortion to those legislative bodies, and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office," Alito wrote.
34% : Abortion already is an issue in Wisconsin's gubernatorial and legislative elections.
33% : In some swing states with Republican-led legislatures, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, "arguably gerrymandering really is the primary reason that abortion is likely to be illegal," said Chris Warshaw, a political scientist at George Washington University who analyzes redistricting data.
30% : In overturning a half-century of nationwide legal protection for abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Roe v. Wade had been wrongly decided and that it was time to "return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives" in the states.
28% : Writing for the Supreme Court's majority in its June 24 abortion decision, Justice Samuel Alito noted that 30 states had prohibited abortion when the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling "short-circuited the democratic process," usurped lawmakers and imposed abortion rights nationwide.

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