In pics: Bans in place in multiple US states within hours of court ruling

At least eight right-leaning states imposed immediate bans on abortion with a similar number to follow suit in coming weeks after the Supreme Court eliminated 50-year-old constitutional protections for the procedure, drawing criticism from some of America's closest allies around the world.

Women in states that severely restrict abortion or outlaw it all together will either have to continue with their pregnancy, undergo a clandestine abortion, obtain abortion pills, or travel to another state where it remains legal.

That goal is now within sight in about two dozen states which are now expected to severely restrict or outright ban and criminalize abortions.

Missouri was first to ban the procedure on Friday, making no exception for rape or incest, joined as of Saturday morning by at least seven other states Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.

Several Democratic-ruled states, anticipating an influx of patients, have already taken steps to facilitate abortion, and three of them California, Oregon, and Washington issued a joint pledge to defend access in the wake of the court's decision.

Abortion providers said they had seen a surge in donations since the ruling, as they braced for the long hard road ahead.

"In the 24 hours following the court's devastating decision, Planned Parenthood saw a 40-fold total increase in donations compared to a typical day more than half of whom are new donors," Kelley Robinson, vice president of advocacy at the largest abortion provider in the United States, said in a statement to AFP.