Jeffrey Toobin Wonders How Red States Will Punish Abortions if Roe v Wade Gets Overturned?

CNN Chief Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin wondered how red states intend to punish doctors and women who have abortions if the Supreme Court goes ahead and strikes down Roe v. Wade.

Toobin was on New Day with John Berman on Wednesday to talk about Samuel Alito’s judicial viewpoints, now that the justice’s leaked majority opinion draft suggests the imminent rollback of federal abortion rights protections. Toobin combed through Alito’s record, demonstrating his anti-abortion stance and his position as a “stalwart of the right” on the court.

The conversation soon turned to the number of states with laws that will restrict or outright ban abortion if Roe v. Wade gets overturned. This prompted Toobin to bring up the inevitable legal entanglements as he asked what kinds of penalties states will put in place for people who still facilitate abortions despite any prohibitions.

What happens if you perform an abortion in Arkansas? The law says ten years in prison for a doctor who performs abortion. What about penalties for the women who have abortions? In Texas, there has already been one prosecution — since withdrawn — of a woman who tried to get an abortion. Another issue is what happens if you help someone get an abortion? South Dakota has criminal penalties for people who help other people get abortions. What if those people are in states where abortion is legal? What if someone in New York funds an abortion in South Dakota? What if someone in New York — where abortion is legal — sends the pill for a medical abortion to someone in South Dakota? Does that person in New York get prosecuted in South Dakota? Those are the questions that are gonna be very relevant if this decision becomes law.

Watch above, via CNN.