Democrats are seeking ways to protect access to abortions across America as Republican-led states implement bans in the wake of the Supreme Court’s scrapping of the constitutional right to end a pregnancy.

The decision by America’s highest court on Friday to overturn Roe vs Wade, removing the federal safeguard for abortion that has existed for half a century, has placed states on the front lines of the fight for reproductive rights in the country.

While some states are emerging as havens for women seeking an abortion, the procedure is being prohibited and criminalised in others. This is deepening the political and social divides between conservative and liberal parts of the country, and putting battleground states even more in the spotlight ahead of November’s midterm elections.