It’s not just congressional Republicans who will be coming for women’s reproductive rights come 2017. State-level Republicans have big plans, too. They’ll be adding to the list of states banning abortions after 20 weeks, or particular forms of abortion, and new, creative ways of making it more difficult for women to obtain legal medical care will sweep the nation:

The first post-election votes on abortion rights are likely to take place this week in Ohio, where legislators are meeting in a lame-duck session. The state Senate has already passed measures that would ban abortions after 20 weeks and require abortion clinics to bury or cremate remains of terminated fetuses; the state House, also controlled by Republicans, is likely to pass those measures this week.



Sue Swayze, who heads the National Pro-Life Women's Caucus for the anti-abortion rights Susan B. Anthony List, said the next big trend will be a bevy of measures requiring burial or cremation of aborted fetuses.

Mind you, in more than 90 percent of cases, that’s a requirement for burial or cremation of a fetus that weighs less than an ounce. In addition to Ohio, Missouri, Utah, and Texas are expected to have votes on anti-abortion measures. But not all attacks on women’s right to choose will involve votes:

Some abortion rights supporters say they worry most about a new tactic used by some Republican-led states: Those states have begun crafting rules and regulations through agencies that oversee abortion providers and medical clinics, alongside legislation aimed at codifying those rules, in an effort to stop procedures even before a legislature has acted.

While organizations like Planned Parenthood will continue to battle in legislatures and in the courts to preserve the right to choose—and access to care—we can expect to see a lot more women forced to carry unwanted or unhealthy pregnancies to term, and to see a lot more women dying as they turn, desperate, to unsafe illegal abortions.