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Amdt5.4.6.9.2 Right to an Abortion. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same ...
Apr 23, 2024 · A restrictive, six-week abortion law in the once-key electoral state of Florida goes into effect on May 1 and has Democrats hoping to use the issue to make it a battleground once again.
Sep 3, 2021 · The Texas law, by contrast, bans abortion after six weeks, and most women don't find out that they're pregnant until after that. So it is a de facto ban on all abortion in Texas. So the Texas law ...
- Overview
- Texas tackles medical exemptions
- Florida may add abortion to the 2024 ballot
- The Supreme Court takes on medical emergencies and medication abortion
- The bottom line:
•It’s been 51 years since Roe v. Wade, but the 2022 reversal has ignited a series of attacks on abortion rights.
•On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that every person in the U.S. has the right to get an abortion.
•The Court’s decision to overturn this ruling unleashed trigger abortion bans in multiple states across the country, impacting the health and safety of millions.
It’s been 51 years since Roe V. Wade became the law of the land.
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that every person has the right to get an abortion — a decision that has since been overturned decades later in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022.
Though abortion has long been a heated and controversial topic in the United States, the 2022 ruling kicked off a series of legal restrictions on abortion rights in many states.
In 2021, Texas banned nearly all abortions in a sweeping law named the Texas Heartbeat Act.
As the name suggests, the ban prohibits and criminalizes abortions performed if a “heartbeat” can be detected.
Since the ban was enacted, medical professionals have been in the dark about when, exactly, providing an abortion is legal and what constitutes a medical exemption, if, for example, the mother’s life is in danger.
“Not only is the law unclear, but Texas officials have been zealous in threatening prosecution under the state’s abortion laws, and the courts have provided no real guidance, either,” says Jessie Hill, JD, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University who specializes in reproductive rights.
This confusion has reportedly led to some providers to avoid performing potentially life-saving abortions on people with and risky pregnancies out of fear they could be penalized or lose their medical licenses.
This can leave “patients at risk of losing their ability to have children in the future or suffering other even more serious health outcomes if they are required by law to carry the fetus to term,” says Alison Gash, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Oregon specializing in reproductive health.
In Florida, abortion rights groups have collected enough signatures to get abortion on the 2024 ballot.
The measure seeks to add an amendment to the state constitution that would prevent restrictions on abortion before fetal viability, which is around the 24th week of pregnancy.
According to Gash, opponents of the ballot measure argue that the term “viability” introduces too much ambiguity into abortion regulation.
“Scientifically, viability can be a moving target,” she said.
If passed, the amendment would bar the state’s current 15-week ban and recently-passed six-week ban. The six-week ban is currently blocked by the courts.
Still, there are hoops to jump through before the measure can appear on the November ballot.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, one of the pills used in medication abortions.
In 2023, an appellate ruling introduced new restrictions against mifepristone: It can no longer be mailed to pregnant people, even in states where it is legal, and people can only take it through seven weeks of pregnancy, rather than the previously-permitted length of 10 weeks.
The ruling has not yet gone into effect, due to a previous stay issued by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The arguments in the case are set to take place this spring.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments for a case from Idaho regarding the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a federal law that requires hospitals receiving Medicare funds to provide stabilizing care to patients with medical emergencies, regardless of whether or not they can pay.
In July 2022, the Biden Administration issued a memo stating that abortion falls under this type of required care.
Though abortion has long been a heated and controversial topic in the United States, the 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade kicked off a series of legal restrictions on abortion rights in many states. We looked at the state of abortion rights in the U.S. today.
6 days ago · The federal law driving the latest abortion battle at the US Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court has heard arguments about how close to death a woman must be to receive an abortion in states with ...
Aug 16, 2022 · In 1989, pro-choice demonstrators gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion remained one of the most polarizing issues among Democrats and Republicans, making it easy to predict politicians’ beliefs about abortion based on their political party. But that wasn’t always ...
Jun 27, 2022 · At common law, abortion was criminal in at least some stages of pregnancy and was regarded as unlawful and could have very serious consequences at all stages. ... The Federalist No. 78, p. 523 (J ...
