President-elect Trump campaigned on leaving abortion decisions to the states, but that could prove a tough promise to keep as he returns to the Oval Office.

Anti-abortion groups want Trump to quickly take executive action to re-impose federal restrictions from his first term; Republicans in Congress are poised to send him new abortion legislation; and his Justice Department will need to decide whether to continue defending Biden-era abortion policies across several ongoing federal cases or drop them completely.

Some of these actions could empower states trying to restrict abortion, making it even more difficult for women to access abortion care, but others could impose new federal roadblocks on states seeking to expand reproductive rights.

“You could have versions of the story where the Trump administration doesn't really take aggressive action on abortion and does things that look more like reversing Biden-era policies and restoring Trump-era policies,” said Mary Ziegler, an abortion law expert and professor at the University of California Davis.

“And there's a scenario where a second Trump administration goes much, much further on abortion, in court and outside of it. And we don't really know which of those realities is going to be the one we see, in part because as much as Trump has been telegraphing his plans for returning to office, he hasn't really been particularly eager to talk about reproductive issues,” Ziegler added.

Advocates on either side of the issue don’t expect the Trump administration to stay out of the fight.

“Until taxpayers no longer pay for abortion and programs no longer mandate it, abortion is federal,” said Kristan Hawkins, president Students for Life Action, an anti-abortion group.

“The Dobbs decision........

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