Although state legislatures are heavily focused on responding to the current economic crisis, numerous bills on reproductive health have also been the subject of debate and action.

With the legislative year well underway, laws to establish fetal personhood, mandating medically accurate sex ed, and treating partners for STIs are on the move.

In 2008, a few state legislatures took steps to promote reproductive health, by requiring hospitals to provide information on EC to rape survivors and laying the groundwork for expanding Medicaid family planning coverage.

This year, the most significant developments in state-level reproductive health law lie ahead, in the form of ballot initiatives that will come before voters in three states in November.

With the legislative year in full swing, clear trends in the states are emerging, largely in the wake of last year's Supreme Court decision in Gonzalez v. Carhart.

Over the course of 2007, state legislators considered more than 1,000 bills concerning reproductive health and rights. There's good news on EC access and the expansion of Medicaid family planning services but bad news on abortion access.

In the third quarter, only Virginia's state legislature mandated HPV vaccination for students, while other state legislatures specifically banned a mandate. Other state legislatures expanded eligibility for Medicaid family planning services, and some expanded funding for "crisis pregnancy centers."

Reproductive health advocates at the state level made significant progress in two areas: better access to emergency contraception and comprehensive sex education.

With the legislative year in full swing in most states, some interesting trends are emerging—many aimed either at banning abortion, or alternately, protecting abortion rights.

Rachel Benson Gold is the Guttmacher Institute's Director of Policy Analysis and Elizabeth Nash holds the position of Public Policy Associate. Both work in the Institute's Washington-based Public Policy Division.

Literally hundreds of bills relating to reproductive health and rights get introduced in state legislatures every year. While most of them never make it all the way through the legislative process, several dozen usually do become law—and it is crucial for SRH advocates to be aware of the trends in state legislatures, both positive and negative.

Over the course of 2006, 29 states enacted a total of 62 new laws addressing a wide range of reproductive health and rights-related concerns. Although this represents nearly 20% fewer laws than the 78 enacted in 2005, it follows a long-standing pattern of lessened activity in even-numbered years that may be largely due to circumstances unrelated to reproductive health politics: 21 states only address budget bills—the locus of much reproductive health policymaking—in odd-numbered years, and legislatures in six states convene only in odd-numbered years. This analysis addresses enacted laws related to abortion (26 new laws), contraception (11) and statutory rape reporting (3).