The problem is that these beliefs, including sending women to prison for having abortions, aren’t palatable to the broader public. Many Americans oppose some abortions, but very few oppose all abortions. A majority want abortions available during the first trimester and in cases of rape and incest. As National Review’s editors argued in 2015, while favoring abortion bans with zero exceptions “is a defensible position,” “it is a highly unpopular one.” Best, they argued, not to discuss it. Besides, the editors continued, “perhaps in a post-Roe v. Wade America a state or two would ban abortion even in cases of rape, and those seeking such abortions would have to cross state lines. But even that is on the far edge of possibility.”

And now here we are. The questions that were so easily waved away by some abortion opponents before will need to be answered. If abortion is to be penalized as a felony in some states and an increasing number of women are performing abortions themselves using drugs delivered by mail, would those women be punished? If so, how? For how long?