Marian Levine favors abortion rights, and at 72 the D.C retiree has witnessed a time of no legal abortion, the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion and a series of state laws regulating or restricting the procedure in the decades following. But only after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law this month outright banning the procedure – and threatening doctors with up to 99 years in prison for performing it – did the reality of a world without Roe really hit home for her.

"We have been taking this for granted," Levine said at a pro-abortion rights rally in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Now that pro-abortion rights forces know the right "can be taken away again," they are newly mobilized and motivated, she and other activists say. Once on defense, fighting efforts to chip away at abortion access, the forces are now on a very aggressive offense, worried that the legal right to an abortion nationwide will be tossed out.

Abortion foes have been very successful in the past few decades in putting restrictions on abortion, winning passage of parental consent laws, waiting periods and other barriers. Tighter rules for clinics in some states have also made it harder for women, especially those who don't have the funds or time off work to travel, to obtain abortions. Federal laws, such as the Hyde Amendment banning federal Medicaid funds from being used for abortion services, have added to legal restrictions on the procedure.

But the Alabama law is the most draconian to date since Roe, analysts say, since it bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy and with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. Under the law – which is set to take effect in six months – abortion would be allowed only if the woman's life is in danger. Doctors who perform the procedure would be subject to as much as 99 years in prison.

That has flipped the political dynamic, experts say, and the Alabama law – while a win on paper – could end up being a loser for politicians and activists who want a world with no abortion.

Abortion rights proponents "won in the beginning" with the Roe v. Wade ruling, says University of Denver political science professor Joshua Wilson , author of the book "The New States of Abortion Politics."

"Once you set up this dynamic, it's much easier to mobilize people to undo something. That puts anti-abortion activists in a naturally more advantageous position," he says.

That was especially true when abortion foes were weakening Roe through "incrementalism," since various state restrictions get less attention, Wilson says. But now, when "you can see where the right [to abortion] is really under attack," it's abortion foes who are playing defense, Wilson says – and with mixed reaction from leaders who describe themselves as "pro-life."

"It's much easier to mobilize people to undo something. That puts anti-abortion activists in a naturally more advantageous position."

President Donald Trump, who at one time called himself "very pro-choice," has since been a champion to anti-abortion forces, calling for a defunding of Planned Parenthood, nominating anti-abortion judges and justices and imposing the so-called "global gag rule" preventing groups receiving any U.S. funding from providing or even counseling women about abortion. But the Alabama law was too much for Trump.

"As most people know, and for those who would like to know, I am strongly Pro-Life, with the three exceptions – Rape, Incest and protecting the Life of the mother – the same position taken by Ronald Reagan," Trump tweeted Saturday night, without specifically mentioning the Alabama law.

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Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 Republican nominee for president, was more explicit, telling CNN's State of the Union , "I don't support the Alabama law. I believe that there ought to be exceptions. I'm pro-life, but there ought to be exceptions for rape and incest and where the life of the mother is at risk."

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted that she, too, prefers exceptions for rape and incest. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, told reporters the law "goes further than I believe."

And others who call themselves deeply opposed to abortion say they fear such laws and rhetoric undermine the message the movement wants to convey.

"I think when we talk about being pro-life, we need to talk about love, concern, theology – always accentuate those positive values and virtues that show respect for women, as opposed to the more punitive side of the debate," says Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Republican of Tennessee. Fleischmann, who believes life begins at conception, says he has not read the Alabama law in full.

Polls on abortion vary depending on how the question is asked. An overwhelming majority say they do not want Roe v. Wade overturned. But if voters are asked, for example, how they feel about late-term abortion, the numbers are virtually flipped . As long as the fundamentals of Roe – which allows abortion in the first trimester, allows restrictions in the second trimester and leaves the matter to the states for the third – were not seen as being under threat, anti-abortion forces had the organizing advantage, Wilson says.

Pro-abortion rights forces have been warning women for many years that Roe was on shaky ground, either because of state laws restricting abortion or because of changes in the makeup of the Supreme Court. But recent laws – including laws in Missouri, Georgia and Ohio that ban abortion at a stage when many women don't even know they are pregnant – have spurred a new level of activity in the pro-abortion rights camp.

The event in front of the Supreme Court was one of 500 "stop the bans" demonstrations in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America, one of the lead organizers of the protests.

On Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, and Rep, Judy Chu, Democrat of California, introduced the Women's Health Protection Act, which would bar states from imposing abortion restrictions that are medically unnecessary or do not promote a woman's health or safety.

The bill surely faces a difficult path in the GOP-controlled Senate. But it is a marked departure from the abortion-related bills offered in this and previous congresses that seek to ban abortion at certain stages or make it harder to pay for one. There are proposals, for example, to take away federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which already is not allowed to use federal funds for abortions, and to deny abortion expenses as a medical expenses for tax purposes.

"We are at a turning point," says Destiny Lopez of the group All Above All, which is working to repeal the Hyde Amendment. "It's been a slow, steady drip" restricting abortion access, she adds. "Some people are just waking up to it."

That awakening, she says, will be felt at the polls next year.