STUDY: Along U.S. 281 Is Heart of Anti-Abortion Territory

(NPN) — Open up your road atlas of the United States. Find U.S. Hwy 281—it’s pretty much where the pages meet.

Each side of the highway is in anti-abortion territory, according to a recent study by NARAL Pro-Choice America.

In fact, the Dakotas sit atop the six state stack in the middle of the country stretching from North Dakota to Texas—U.S. 281’s route—that is the literal center of the anti-abortion movement.

These six Plains states—North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas—are the heart of the 21 states where abortion opponents control the legislature and the governorship, according to NARAL.

No Northern Plains state is in the abortion rights category of having both friendly governors and legislatures. That is generallycase on both east and west of the U.S. 281 line, with only Colorado breaking for abortion rights and Louisiana breaking anti-abortion.

Northern Plains states of Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming and Montana have “mixed” governorships and legislatures when it comes to abortion rights and restrictions.

The seven abortion rights “friendly” states were all on the Coasts, with the exception of the before mentioned Colorado. Hawaii, California and Oregon were on the West flank and Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts were on the East flank, according to the study.