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Since the leaked draft of the U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision came out in May, people have been weighing the consequences for Washington, as well as for the rest of the country. Now, the : Roe v. Wade is overturned.

The outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states in the U.S.

You might think there will be few ramifications in Washington, given  ensuring abortion rights. But that’s not the case.

Washington was the  to legalize abortion, in 1970, although the protections were limited to the first few months of pregnancy and conditional upon a husband’s approval. A 1991 voter initiative went further, guaranteeing the right to abortion until the point of a fetus’s viability.

That law will remain in effect, regardless of Friday’s ruling.

The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization focusing on reproductive rights, estimates Washington could see a  in abortion patients coming from states banning or severely restricting abortion in the wake of Roe. As Washington joins the ranks of states offering a safe haven for abortion care, some are predicting a backlash involving

Local anti-abortion activists are hopeful they can capitalize on the Supreme Court decision to make headway in a state where they previously have had little traction. Mark Miloscia, who recently stepped down from heading the Family Policy Institute of Washington to run for secretary of state, has expressed confidence that even Washington could ban abortion.