Full Answer Section

By the late 19th century, all states had laws restricting abortion, with exceptions in some states if a doctor said the abortion was needed to save the life or health of the patient. However, these laws were often enforced unevenly, and many women still sought out unsafe abortions from unqualified practitioners.

Roe v. Wade

In 1973, the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade established a constitutional right to abortion. The Court ruled that the right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

The Roe decision established a framework for determining the legality of abortion restrictions. Under Roe, states could not ban abortion before fetal viability, the point at which a fetus could survive outside the womb. After fetal viability, states could regulate abortion, but only if the regulations did not place an undue burden on a woman’s right to have an abortion.

Post-Roe v. Wade

Since Roe v. Wade, states have enacted a variety of laws restricting abortion access. Some of the most common restrictions include:

• Parental notification or consent requirements for minors
• Waiting periods before an abortion can be performed
• Bans on certain abortion methods, such as late-term abortions and dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortions
• Requirements that abortion providers have admitting privileges at a local hospital

These restrictions have made it more difficult for some women to obtain abortions, especially low-income women and women of color. However, abortion remains legal in all 50 states.

The Current Landscape

The debate over abortion remains one of the most controversial in American politics. Anti-abortion groups have continued to challenge Roe v. Wade in court, and they have also lobbied for increasingly restrictive abortion laws.

In recent years, the Supreme Court has become more conservative, and many experts believe that Roe v. Wade is at risk of being overturned. If Roe is overturned, the legality of abortion will revert to the states, and many states are likely to ban or severely restrict abortion.

Conclusion

The history of abortion in the United States is a long and complex one. Abortion has been practiced in the country since before its founding, but it has also been stigmatized and criminalized for much of its history. Roe v. Wade established a constitutional right to abortion in 1973, but states have continued to enact laws restricting abortion access. The debate over abortion remains one of the most controversial in American politics, and the future of abortion rights in the United States is uncertain.

Additional Information

• According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports reproductive rights, there were an estimated 618,000 abortions in the United States in 2019.
• The abortion rate in the United States has been declining in recent years. In 2019, the abortion rate was 11.3 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, down from 16.4 abortions per 1,000 women in 2011.
• The majority of abortions (58%) in the United States are performed with medication abortion, also known as the abortion pill. Medication abortion is a safe and effective way to terminate a pregnancy early in the first trimester.
• Surgical abortion is the other type of abortion performed in the United States. Surgical abortion is a very safe procedure, and it is performed in a variety of ways, depending on the stage of pregnancy.