"Blackmun assumed that the states would be able to immediately respond to the decisions with amendment to their laws, and suggested to the Justices that the abortion decisions should be released “no later than the week of January 15 to tie in with the convening of most state legislatures.” A week before the abortion decisions were released, Blackmun distributed a draft announcement with a number of political considerations that he proposed to read from the bench and distribute to the press: Fortunately, the decisions come down at a time when a majority of the legislatures of the states are in session. Presumably where these decisions cast doubt as to the constitutional validity of a state’s abortions statute, the legislature of that state may immediately reviews its statute and amend ti to bring it into line with the constitutional requirements we have endeavored to spell out today. If this is done, there is no need whatsoever for any prolonger period of unregulated abortion practice. But Blackmun failed to realize that the vagueness and complexity of the opinions, coupled with the powers of the federal courts to apply Roe and Doe, would create a public vacuum that would continue for decades. That same day, January 16, one of Justice Powell’s clerks gave him a memo that noted the “lack of state authority to regulate in the first trimester.” Perhaps the Blackmun and Powell chambers had discussed this point."