NAOMI CAHN: In 1973, the Supreme Court decided the famed case of Roe v. Wade, and in that case, the Supreme Court said there is a fundamental right to an abortion in the United States.

Abortion remained legal until the Supreme Court decided Dobbs versus Jackson Women's Health Organization in June of 2022, and at that point, the Supreme Court said there is no fundamental or even federal constitutional right to an abortion.

As a result, there are 14 states with bans and another eight states have severe restrictions, and other states have reacted by trying to shield health care providers who provide abortions to out-of-state patients.

The truth is, if you talk to physicians in this situation, abortion, they are worried about losing their medical licenses or going to jail if they perform an abortion in the states that have banned abortion.

That makes trying to act in the best health interests of their patients quite difficult.

And I think the best answer to that is to talk to physicians and other health care providers who feel caught in a system where they are unable to exercise their best medical judgment or look to see what has happened in abortion banned states to maternity health clinics or to other reproductive care providers to see the exodus of physicians who feel they cannot provide the care they believe they should.

So, Virginia abortion providers, there's much more.

As a result of Dobbs, there's far more abortion demand in Virginia than there was prior to Dobbs.

That is, prior to June of 2022.

So that's one change.

More out-of-state people, just under 20% of abortions in Virginia are for out-of-state residents.

ANGIE MILES: What are the considerations when it comes to fertility treatments?

NAOMI CAHN: Anecdotally what we're hearing is that when embryos are created through assisted reproductive technology, they are being sent to other states for storage.

The disposition of those excess embryos is called into question, depending on when personhood starts and when the law will kick in to start to protect that embryo that has been created.