Abortion in the United States and its territories is a divisive issue in American politics and culture wars, with widely different abortion laws in U.S. states. Since 1976, the Republican Party has generally sought to restrict abortion access based on the stage of pregnancy or to criminalize abortion, whereas the Democratic Party has generally defended access to abortion and has made contraception easier to obtain. The abortion-rights movement advocates for patient choice and bodily autonomy, while the anti-abortion movement maintains that the fetus has a right to live. Historically framed as a debate between the pro-choice and pro-life labels, most Americans agree with some positions of each side. Support for abortion gradually increased in the U.S. beginning in the early 1970s, and stabilized during the 2010s.
A crisis pregnancy center (CPC), sometimes called a pregnancy resource center (PRC) or a pro-life pregnancy center, is a type of nonprofit organization established by anti-abortion groups primarily to persuade pregnant women against having an abortion. In the United States, CPCs that qualify as medical clinics may also provide pregnancy testing, sonograms, and other services, while many others operate without medical licensing under varying degrees of regulation. CPCs have frequently been found to disseminate false medical information about the supposed physical and mental health risks of abortion, and sometimes promulgate misinformation about the effectiveness of condoms and prevention of sexually transmitted infections. CPCs are sometimes referred to as fake abortion clinics by scholars, the media, and supporters of abortion rights, due to deceptive advertising practices that obscure the anti-abortion agenda of CPCs from potential patients seeking abortions.
Timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting) represents formal changes and reforms regarding women's rights. The changes include actual law reforms as well as other formal changes, such as reforms through new interpretations of laws by precedents. The right to vote is exempted from the timeline: for that right, see Timeline of women's suffrage. The timeline excludes ideological changes and events within feminism and antifeminism; for that, see Timeline of feminism.
This is a timeline of reproductive rights legislation, a chronological list of laws and legal decisions affecting human reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are a sub-set of human rights pertaining to issues of reproduction and reproductive health. These rights may include some or all of the following: the right to legal or safe abortion, the right to birth control, the right to access quality reproductive healthcare, and the right to education and access in order to make reproductive choices free from coercion, discrimination, and violence. Reproductive rights may also include the right to receive education about contraception and sexually transmitted infections, and freedom from coerced sterilization, abortion, and contraception, and protection from practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM).
The legality of abortion in the United States and the various restrictions imposed on the procedure vary significantly depending on the laws of each state or other jurisdiction. Some states prohibit abortion at all stages of pregnancy with few exceptions, others permit it up to a certain point in a woman's pregnancy, while others allow abortion throughout a woman's pregnancy. In states where abortion is legal, several classes of restrictions on the procedure may exist, such as parental consent or notification laws, requirements that patients be shown an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion, mandatory waiting periods, and counseling requirements. Abortion laws tend to be the most strict in the Southern United States and the most lenient in the Northeastern and Western United States.
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill." Founded by Janet Benshoof in 1992, its original name was the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.
Susan Wicklund is an American physician. Until her retirement, Dr Wicklund was the sole provider of abortions in some areas of the midwestern United States and was a prominent target of violence and harassment from opponents of abortion rights.
Abortion in Texas is illegal in most cases. A trigger law has been in effect since August 25, 2022, which bans abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother.
Abortion in Alabama is currently illegal. Under section 26-23H-4 of the Code of Alabama in the U.S. state of Alabama, it is unlawful for an abortion to be performed unless it is deemed absolutely necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk to the pregnant woman. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.
Abortion in Louisiana is illegal in most cases, but decriminalized in the city of New Orleans, as of August 1, 2022.
Abortion in Idaho is illegal from fertilization. Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022 abortion in Idaho was criminalized via the trigger law which states that a person who performs an abortion may face two to five years of imprisonment. The ban allows exceptions for rape, incest, or maternal health. The law took effect on August 25, 2022.
Abortion in Kentucky is illegal. As of August 1, 2022, the order blocking enforcement of the state's trigger-law ban has been blocked itself.
Abortion in Minnesota is legal until fetal viability. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled the Minnesota Constitution conferred a right to an abortion in 1995 and the Minnesota Legislature passed a bill in 2023 to recognize a right to reproductive freedom and preventing local units of government from limiting that right.
Abortion in Mississippi is illegal. The new law took effect on July 7, 2022, after Mississippi State Attorney General Lynn Fitch certified on June 27, the Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on June 24 of that year.
Abortion in Nebraska is legal up to the 20th week of pregnancy, except in the municipalities of Hayes Center, Blue Hill, Stapleton, Arnold, Paxton, Brady, Hershey, and Wallace where abortion has been outlawed by local ordinance. In a 2014 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 50% of Nebraskan adults said that abortion should be legal in all or most cases while 46% said abortion should be illegal in most or all cases.
Abortion in North Carolina is legal during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion related legislation existed in North Carolina by 1900, including a therapeutic exception. Research was being done about abortion nationally, using North Carolina data to derive estimates in 1967. State Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws were in place by 2013. North Carolina abortion laws have been before the federal judiciary, including in March 2019 when U.S. District Judge William Osteen formally struck down North Carolina's life of the mother only 20-week abortion ban.
Abortion in North Dakota remains legal through 22 weeks due to a court injunction of the state's trigger law. However, the state's sole abortion clinic has been moved to Minnesota.
Abortion in South Dakota is illegal. Anyone who induces an abortion is guilty of a Class 6 felony. An exception is included to "preserve the life of the pregnant female," given appropriate and reasonable medical judgment.
Abortion in Utah is legally performed under a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the state's trigger law, which bans abortion. According to HB136, which is effective state law from June 28, 2022, abortions are banned following 18 weeks of gestation. Abortion was banned following the Supreme Court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on June 24, 2022. Utah State Legislation enacted SB 174 in May 2020, which, upon the overturn of Roe v. Wade, made inducing an abortion a second-degree felony. The law includes exceptions for pregnancies "caused by rape or incest," pregnancies that put the mother's life at risk, or "if two doctors say the fetus has a lethal defect." Rape and incest exceptions will only be viable if the crimes were previously reported to law enforcement officials.
Abortion in West Virginia is illegal, with few exceptions.
