In 1973, two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, radically changed the legal landscape of American abortion law by striking down all then-existing state laws prohibiting abortion. The combined effect of the rulings required abortion to be:
- legal for any woman, regardless of her age;
- legal for any reason through the first six months of pregnancy, and for virtually any reason thereafter.
This is patently false. Here I quote from Roe v. Wade:
(a) For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician. Pp. 163, 164.
(b) For the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester, the State, in promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health. Pp. 163, 164.
(c) For the stage subsequent to viability the State, in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother. Pp. 163-164; 164-165.
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