Trigger law

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A Trigger Law is a nickname for a law that is unenforceable and irrelevant in the present, but will achieve relevance and enforceability once a key change in society occurs.

An example could be laws on human cloning, which as of now is impossible and has never been done, yet many nations have laws banning the practice anyway, on the assumption the technology will one day exist. Likewise, in the United States, several states have trigger laws on abortion, either making the practice automatically legal or illegal on the assumption that the landmark case Roe v. Wade will one day be overturned, giving abortion-regulation powers back to the states.