NRF Policy Lab Report Exposes How Gerrymandering Shields Extreme State Abortion Laws from Voter Backlash
Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF)’s Policy Lab released a new report detailing how partisan gerrymanders in North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Kansas enabled legislators to enact unpopular anti-abortion laws.
The report, called How Partisan Gerrymandering Limits Access to Reproductive Freedom, finds that in the wake of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Dobbs decision, gerrymandered maps gave state legislators the margins needed to pass unpopular and oppressive abortion bans and related legislation without fear of backlash from voters who heavily opposed them. The result is that a minority viewpoint on personal health care decisions is now being imposed on every resident of these states.
“Gerrymandering has allowed lawmakers to use manipulated district lines as a protective shield, enabling the imposition of radical, restrictive healthcare mandates that are not supported by voters, with zero fear of electoral consequences,” said Marina Jenkins.
“When legislatures can completely disregard voters’ will or force through a veto override using unearned supermajorities, we must recognize and address this as a structural failing of our democracy,” Jenkins added. “Fair, competitive voting maps are the necessary first step to restoring democratic accountability.”
Key Findings from Five Heavily Gerrymandered States:
North Carolina: Lawmakers used a gerrymandered state Senate map to lock in a supermajority with barely half the statewide vote, allowing them to override a gubernatorial veto and pass SB 20, a 12-week ban with a 72-hour double-visit requirement. This manufactured legislative majority silenced the 60% of North Carolinians who opposed the ban, which caused abortions in the state to fall by 31% in just the first month.
Indiana: Despite 64% of Hoosiers opposing an abortion ban, state lawmakers pushed through one of the nation’s harshest. Insulated by unfair maps that feature an Efficiency Gap favoring Republicans 98% of the time, the insulated supermajorities passed a law that threatens doctors with up to six years in prison for providing essential care. Abortions in Indiana have plummeted by 98%.
Georgia: Lawmakers pushed a restrictive six-week abortion ban through the legislature on a razor-thin margin, directly enabled by an extra eight House seats manufactured through rigged maps. This gerrymandered extremism cut state abortion access nearly in half and has led to harrowing healthcare delays and preventable outcomes, including the tragic death of Amber Thurman.
South Carolina: Map manipulators used a skewed state Senate map to secure two unearned seats—providing the exact margin needed to narrowly break a filibuster and pass a restrictive six-week abortion ban. The resulting law has pushed the state’s healthcare system to the brink, forcing women to carry nonviable pregnancies for weeks, dropping OB-GYN residency applications by nearly 6%, and leaving a tenth of South Carolina counties without any prenatal care provider.
Kansas: Artificially inflated legislative majorities directly defied the explicit will of voters who chose to protect abortion rights by 59% in a 2022 statewide referendum. Under a map more skewed than 96% of plans nationwide, the legislature secured the bare minimum two-thirds majority required to override a gubernatorial veto and enact HB 2749, a law forcing doctors to interrogate patients about their reasons for seeking an abortion.
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