I think we will see Europe style restrictions at some point with a 12-15 week max for abortions at the federal level with some medical exceptions.
This will not make either side happy but will be the compromise ‘most’ people, other than the aborted, can live with.
On the good side it would stop late term abortions. On the bad side it would not sit well with those believing/knowing a life started at conception.
If this compromise were established I think the 12 week (first trimester) limit would serve everyone best; including the science about when the nervous system develops. It would give the woman time to know, time to decide, and time to abort as early as she could.
I know this won’t sit well with a lot of good people here and I apologize for that. I’m simply being a realist about how (I think) this will eventually shake out.
I should add that I hope a provision is included that allows for states to make their own limit less than a 12 week federal limit but not more.
This would protect the unborn as much as possible in this political climate with this issue and also give people some control over what happens in their particular state.
Roe served as a very useful foil for Republican candidates and voters alike, allowing them keep the pro-life base happy in proposing and supporting extreme abortion restrictions that they knew wouldn't stand up in court. It also allowed more moderate Republican voters to continue supporting those candidates whose abortion policies were more extreme than they'd prefer with the understanding that Roe would serve as a bulwark.
Roe's reversal definitely complicates the environment now for GOP candidates. In many places, such as Virginia, a total ban on abortion is simply not politically feasible. The Democrats will also find themselves needed to defend their "abortion at any time for any reason up to the moment of birth" platform, a position that is just as unpopular with the American majority as total bans are.
Compromise laws will be necessary to win in purple states. People here who doubt this can see what happens when they put forward candidates who are fighting for total bans and these candidates lose handedly to the Democrats.