The states are now the battleground in the fight over abortion rights.

The new Republican controlled Congress has put further restrictions on abortion near the top of its agenda for this legislative session. Rebecca J. Kreitzer looks at another arena where the GOP is also working to expand abortion restrictions – in the American states. She writes that in the last two decades, more than 700 state laws have passed which while keeping abortion legal, make it nearly inaccessible. She also finds that those states with Democratic women legislators are more likely to block more restrictive abortion policies, rather than expand access.