trigger law

noun

variants or less commonly trigger ban

plural trigger laws also trigger bans

: a currently unenforceable law that upon the occurrence of an event (such as a court decision) becomes enforceable

A Louisiana judge blocked enforcement on Monday of statewide abortion ban designed to automatically go into effect when Roe [v. Wade] fell. Two abortion rights groups on Monday filed a challenge to Louisiana's trigger law, which went into effect following the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that struck down the federal right to abortion.—

Olafimihan Oshin

Examples of trigger law in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

That's because the states have trigger laws that would swiftly end their Medicaid expansions if federal funding falls. —

Phil Galewitz | Kff Health News, ABC News, 5 Dec. 2024 It is superseded by the trigger law but still allows for civil suits against people suspected of performing abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. —

Bayliss Wagner, Austin American-Statesman, 22 Nov. 2024 In Missouri, a trigger law banned abortions at all points of pregnancy, except to save the life of the pregnant person. —

Emily Mullin, WIRED, 6 Nov. 2024 One of those states is Missouri, the first state to use a trigger law to ban all non-medically necessary abortions. —

Yasmine Salam, NBC News, 1 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for trigger law