Abortion in the United States by state

Abortion in Alabama is legal up to the 22nd week of pregnancy. Abortion is a divisive issue in the state, with 37% of adults believing it should be legal in all or most cases and 58% believing it should be illegal in all or most cases. Alabama's political and overarching religious beliefs has presented Alabama residents with limited access to abortion services. As of 2021, only three clinics remain in Alabama, all of which are located in metropolitan areas of the state.

As long as a licensed physician performs the procedure, abortion is legal in Alaska. People under the age of 17 must have parental consent.[13]

In 2019, House Bill 178 was proposed, which would have banned abortion with no exceptions.[13] The Bill was withdrawn.[14]

Abortion is legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. Patients must meet with a physician at least 24 hours before the procedure, and a licensed physician must perform the procedure. Minors must receive parental consent.[13]

Abortion is legal up to 20 weeks, with exceptions made for rape, incest, and medical emergencies. Minors must have parental permission.[13] Arkansas is one of five states, including Texas, to pass higher numbers of restrictive and anti-abortion provisional laws in 2021.[15]

Abortion is legal in California. Nurse-midwives and other non-physician medical personnel with proper training may perform the procedure. Public universities are required by law to provide Mifepristone at no cost to students.[13]

Abortion is legal in Colorado. Minors' parents or legal guardians must receive notice before the procedure.[13]

In 2008, Kristine and Michael Burton of Colorado for Equal Rights proposed Colorado Amendment 48, an initiative to amend the definition of a person to "any human being from the moment of fertilization."[16][17] On November 4, 2008, the initiative was turned down by 73.2 percent of the voters.[18]

The state passed the Reproductive Health Equity Act into law in April 2022, which protects abortion rights and assures "every individual has a fundamental right to make decisions about the individual's reproductive health care, including the fundamental right to use or refuse contraception; a pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue a pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion and to make decisions about how to exercise that right; and a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of the state."[19]

The 1821 abortion law of Connecticut is the first known law passed in America to restrict abortion.

Although this law did not completely outlaw abortions, it placed heavier restrictions as it prevented women from attempting or receiving abortions, which was generally through the consumption of poison, during the first four months of a woman's pregnancy.

Abortion in Delaware is legal. 55% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. There was a therapeutic exceptions in the state's legislative ban on abortions by 1900. Informed consent laws were on the books by 2007. As of May 14, 2019, the state prohibited abortions after the fetus was viable, generally some point between week 24 and 28. This period uses a standard defined by the US Supreme Court in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade ruling.

The District of Columbia has no law with respect to abortion. The previous statute making abortion a criminal offense was repealed in 2004. The consequence of this repeal is that abortion is completely unregulated in the District throughout the period of pregnancy.

Abortion in Florida is legal up to the 24th week of pregnancy. 56% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. An abortion ban with therapeutic exception was in place by 1900. Such laws were in place after the American Medical Association sought to criminalize abortion in 1857. By 2007, the state had a customary informed consent provision for abortions. By 2013, state Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication induced abortions. Attempts to ban abortion took place in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Two fetal heartbeat bills were filed in the Florida Legislature in 2019.

Georgia passed an abortion law on May 7, 2019, which prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected; usually when a woman is six weeks pregnant. The law makes no exception for cases of rape or incest.[20] The constitutionality of the law was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights. In October 2019, the federal judge overseeing the case blocked enforcement of the ban, which was to take effect in January 2020, stating that the plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of winning the case.[21]

As of 2017, there are 28 clinics in Hawaii that will perform abortions. As of January 2021, an abortion can be performed after viability if the patients life or overall health is in danger.[22]

Abortion is legal. In April 2021, Idaho put the "heartbeat bill" into place. This restricts abortions after a heart beat can be detected. Other consent laws are also in place throughout the State.[23] Some of the restrictions include patient counseling before the procedure and parental consent for minors, as well as insurance coverage in the case of endangerment or rape. In 2017, there were 5 clinics in Idaho that perform abortions.[24]

Abortion is legal in Illinois up to 24 weeks. Parental consent is not required for minors, however a guardian over the age of 21 must be notified unless over turned by a judge in special cases.[25] Illinois has 40 facilities that can perform abortions as of 2017.[26]

Abortion is legal up to 22 weeks in Indiana. New 2021 laws put in place in the state require an ultrasound be done and shown to the patient 18 plus hours before the procedure as well as state mandated counseling for the patient. If the patient seeking an abortion is a minor, they must receive parental consent before moving forward.[27]

As of April 2020, abortion was legal in Iowa. On March 26, 2020, Governor Kim Reynolds expanded upon previous COVID-19 disaster proclamations to halt elective and non-essential surgeries.[28] The following day her office asserted: "[The] Proclamation suspends all nonessential or elective surgeries and procedures until April 16th, that includes surgical abortion procedures".[29]

Kansas lawmakers approved sweeping anti-abortion legislation (HB 2253) on April 6, 2013, that says life begins at fertilization, forbids abortion based on gender and bans Planned Parenthood from providing sex education in schools.[30]

In 2015 Kansas became the first state to ban the dilation and evacuation procedure, a common second-trimester abortion procedure.[31] But the new law was later struck down by the Kansas Court of Appeals in January 2016 without ever having gone into effect.[32] In April 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision, and ruled that the right to abortion is inherent within the state's constitution and bill of rights, such that even if Roe v. Wade is overturned and the federal protection of abortion rights is withdrawn, the right would still be allowed within Kansas, barring a change in the state constitution.[33] After both Houses of the Kansas State Legislature passed a constitutional amendment to overturn the Kansas Supreme Court’s ruling, Kansas voters will decide whether the Kansas Constitution’s right to an abortion shall be overturned on August 2, 2022.[34]

As of April 2022, Kentucky law states that abortion is legal up to 15 weeks following the passage of a new bill, the second-strictest limit of any state, and abortion is de facto illegal due to regulations for abortion providers that can't be complied with for the time being.[35] The opinions of abortion in the state are rather divided however with 57% of residents saying that abortion should be illegal for all circumstances, Minors seeking an abortion must have written consent within 24 hours of the procedure. Governor Matt Bevin signed two bills in 2019, HB5 and SB9. SB9 was a heartbeat bill that restricts abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. HB 5 restricts abortions based on the race, gender or disability of the fetus.[36] As of 2017, there are 3 facilities in Kentucky that provide abortions.[37]

On June 19, 2006, Governor Kathleen Blanco signed into law a trigger ban on most forms of abortion (unless the life of the mother was in danger or her health would be permanently damaged) once it passed the state legislature. Although she felt exclusions for rape or incest would have "been reasonable," she felt she should not veto based on those reasons. The trigger law would only go into effect if the United States Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. Louisiana's measure would allow the prosecution of any person who performed or aided in an abortion. The penalties include up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000.[38]

A second law, Act 620, passed in 2014, modeled after one passed earlier in Texas, required that any doctor performing abortions also have admittance privileges at an authorized hospital within a 30-mile radius of the abortion clinic, among other new requirements. At the time the law was passed, only one doctor had this privileges, effectively leaving only one legal abortion clinic in the state.[39] Ultimately, the model Texas law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt in 2016, as the additional admitting privileges required by Texas law interfered with a woman's right to an abortion per Roe v. Wade.[40] While the Texas law was being challenged, the Louisiana law was challenged by abortion clinics and doctors in the state in June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee; while the District Court ordered an injunction on the law, the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court reversed this decision, allowing the law to come in effect later in 2014. The plaintiffs petitioned the Supreme Court, who granted an emergency stay of the Fifth Circuit's order, pending the result of the pending Texas litigation in Whole Woman's Health. June Medical Services was remanded back to District Court, which found the law unconstitutional under Whole Woman's Health. The Fifth Circuit reversed the District's finding and prepared to allow the law to come back into effect by February 4, 2019, differentiating the case from the Texas one as they found the physician had not taken any steps to try to qualify for this allowance. The plaintiffs again petitioned the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the Fifth Circuit's decision.[41] Justice Samuel Alito granted the stay of the law until February 7, 2019, stating that the Court needed more time to evaluate the request and had made no merits on the ruling of the case.[42] Subsequently, on February 7, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4, with Justice John Roberts joining the liberal Justices, in reversing the Firth Circuit's order, effectively preventing the law from going into effect.[43] In the 2020 election, Louisiana passed Amendment 1, which adds a sentence to the Louisiana Declaration of Human Rights that states "To protect human life, nothing in its constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion." This proposition allows the Louisiana state government to ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.[44]

On February 27, 2006, Mississippi's House Public Health Committee voted to approve a ban on abortion, but that bill died after the House and Senate failed to agree on compromise legislation.[45]

On November 8, 2011, the Personhood amendment, to define personhood as beginning "at the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof," was rejected by 55 percent of voters.[46]

On March 20, 2018, a federal district court in Mississippi enacted a temporary, 10-day ban of the enforcement of a new state law that prohibits the performance of an abortion once the gestational age of the fetus is greater than 15 weeks.[47][48][20]

New York is known in the U.S. as a reproductive sanctuary state. This means that abortion is legal and seen as health care provided by the state. There are approximately 252 facilities in New York that perform abortions.[49] In 2019 New York codified abortions laws and protection in state law. New York state Senator Alessandra Biaggi has proposed a bill that allows the option for taxpayers in New York to contribute to the abortion access fund on their tax forms. This essentially helps create more access to reproductive health care in the state.[50]

Ohio has multiple layers of law which makes abortion illegal, resulted from multiple passed laws over the decades. The list below ranges from most strict to least.

An Ohio state law went into effect July 2019 which makes abortion illegal after the so-called "fetal heartbeat" (which is a very misleading term, as there is no fetus at that point in pregnancy, only an embryo, and there is no heart, either)[51] can be detected, which is usually between five or six weeks after the first day of the woman's last normal menstrual period. No exceptions are made for "hard cases" such as rape, incest, or a fetus determined to may have down syndrome. The only "hard case" exception, according to ORC 2919.193(B)[52], are in cases in which there is a medical emergency, defined in 2919.16(F) & (K): "serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman."[53] This does not include potential bodily damage that stems from the woman's mental health.

Included in this law, ORC 2919.198, is a section called "Immunity of pregnant woman." This section overrides penalties for pregnant women who undertake an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected.[54] This release of penalties does not extend to physicians or doctors who administers the abortion past a detectable heartbeat.

Despite the above laws being the most restrictive, further penalties can be imposed if an abortion is undertaken even later into the pregnancy.

According to ORC 2919.17, Abortion may not be performed after viability.[55] ORC 2919.16 defines "Viable means the stage of development of a human fetus at which in the determination of a physician, based on the particular facts of a woman's pregnancy that are known to the physician and in light of medical technology and information reasonably available to the physician, there is a realistic possibility of the maintaining and nourishing of a life outside of the womb with or without temporary artificial life-sustaining support."[56] ORC 2919.17(E) extends: "there is a rebuttable presumption that an unborn child of at least twenty-four weeks gestational age is viable."

According to ORC 2919.201, Abortion after gestational age of 20 weeks, abortion may not be performed if "the probable post-fertilization age of the unborn child is twenty weeks or greater".[57] Immunity is not provided in a separate section similar to ORC 2919.198.

In 2016, Oklahoma state legislators passed a bill to criminalize abortion for providers, potentially charging them with up to three years in prison.[58] On May 20, 2016, Governor Mary Fallin vetoed the bill before it could become law, citing its wording as too vague to withstand a legal challenge.[59]

Governor Kevin Stitt signed three bills in 2021 that introduced new restrictions on abortion. One bill would revoke a medical license for people who perform abortions, another would ban abortions if a heartbeat is detected, and the third would require board-certified OB-GYN doctors be the only ones who can perform abortions.[60]

As of 2022, abortion is currently illegal in most cases in Oklahoma. On April 12, 2022, Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a bill that banned abortion indefinitely, unless the life of the mother was at stake, with no exceptions to rape and incest. [61]

Abortion is fully legal in Oregon. In 2017 there were 20 facilities providing abortions in Oregon. As of January 2021, they do not have any major restriction on abortion including waiting period or parental consent.[62]

Abortion is legal in Rhode Island. 71% of residents reported support of passing laws to protect safe abortion in 2018. There are restrictions in Rhode Island such as perental consent and clinic regulations in order to perform the precedure.[63]

In 2004, a bill outlawing abortion passed both houses of the legislature, but was vetoed by the Governor due to a technicality. The state's legislature subsequently passed five laws curtailing the legality of abortion in 2005.[64] The majority of a legislative "task force"[65] then issued a report recommending that the Legislature illegalize all abortions, which would lead to a challenge of the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade in the United States Supreme Court. A separate minority report criticizing the process and reaching different conclusions was also released.[66]

In February 2006, the Legislature passed the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act, which was signed into law by Governor Mike Rounds on March 6, 2006. This law would have forbidden abortion under virtually every circumstance, including in cases of rape and incest. The law allowed "a medical procedure designed or intended to prevent the death of a pregnant mother." Physicians performing such procedures would have been required to "...make reasonable medical efforts under the circumstances to preserve both the life of the mother and the life of her unborn child."

The act had specifically defined pregnancy as beginning at the point of conception rather than at implantation into the uterine wall (see beginning of pregnancy controversy), which might have meant that WHHLPA applied to emergency contraception and possibly all forms of hormonal contraception.

A referendum to repeal the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act was placed on ballot for the November 2006 statewide election due to a successful petition drive by the organization South Dakota Healthy Families. On May 30, over 38,000 petition signatures were filed, more than twice the 17,000 required to place a measure on the ballot. On November 7, WHHLPA was repealed by the South Dakota electorate; the vote was 56%-44% favoring repeal.[67]

Abortion is legal until the fetus is viable, around the 25 week mark. There are about 12 clinics that offer abortions in the state. Parental consent is required for minors in Tennessee. As of right now, if Roe V. Wade is overturned in congress, abortions will become illegal. One restriction required in this state is an ultrasound before the procedure. The ultrasound must be shown and described to the patient. Abortions' are banned in cases for race, sex selection, or other genetic anomalies.[68]

Abortion access in Texas.

The Roe v. Wade case, tried in Texas, stands at the center of years of national debate about the issue of abortion.[69] Henry Wade was serving as District Attorney of Dallas County at the time.

On August 29, 2014, US District Judge Lee Yeakel struck down as unconstitutional two provisions of Texas' omnibus anti-abortion bill, House Bill 2 that was to come into effect on September 1. The regulation would have closed about a dozen abortion clinics, leaving only eight places in Texas to get a legal abortion, all located in major cities. Judge Lee Yeakel ruled that the state's regulation was unconstitutional and would have placed an undue burden on women, particularly on poor and rural women living in west Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.[70] The legal challenge to the law eventually reached the Supreme Court in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) which ruled that the law was unconstitutional, its burden of requiring abortion doctors to have admission privileges at a local hospital within 30 miles of the center to interfere with a woman's right to an abortion from Roe v. Wade.

In May 2021, Texas lawmakers passed the Texas Heartbeat Act, banning abortions as soon cardiac activity can be detected, typically as early as six weeks into pregnancy and often before women know they are pregnant. In order to avoid traditional constitutional challenges based on Roe v. Wade, the law provides that any non-government employee or official, excepting sexual perpetrators who conceived the fetus, may sue anyone that performs or induces an abortion in violation of the statute, as well as anyone who "aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion, including paying for or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or otherwise." The lawsuit may be filed by people either with or without any vested interest. The law contains an exception for abortions performed to save the mother's life.[71] The law was challenged in courts, though had yet to have a full formal hearing as its September 1, 2021, enactment date came due. Plaintiffs sought an order from the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the law from coming into effect, but the Court issued a denial of the order late on September 1, 2021, allowing the law to remain in effect. While unsigned, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Stephen Breyer wrote dissenting opinions joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor that they would have granted an injunction on the law until a proper judicial review.[72][73]

On September 9, 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland, the United States Department of Justice sued the State of Texas over the Texas Act on the basis that "the law is invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, is preempted by federal law, and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity".[74] Garland further noted that the United States government has “an obligation to ensure that no state can deprive individuals of their constitutional rights.”[75] The Complaint avers that Texas enacted the law "in open defiance of the Constitution".[76] The relief requested from the U.S. District Court in Austin, Texas includes a declaration that the Texas Act is unconstitutional, and an injunction against state actors as well as any and all private individuals who may bring a SB 8 action.[76][75] The suit was met with controversy, with critics citing concerns over the suit's politicized nature and the possible infringements on civilian rights.[77][78]

Abortion is legal up to 25 weeks. Some limitations include insurance coverage depending in cases of sexual assault or serious health conditions. Parental consent is also required for minors in Virginia. In 2020, Virginia governor, Ralph Northam signed laws that removed many of the restrictions on abortion that had been in place for decades. Virginia became the first state to codify new protections for abortion in 2020.[79]

In 2013, Act 37 was passed into law, necessitating admitting privileges for all abortion providers within the state. Admitting privileges allow physicians the right to directly admit a patient to a nearby hospital. The state maintained this was necessary for women's health and safety, however, public health officials and the medical community - including the American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians, Wisconsin Medical Society, and American Public Health Association - oppose these requirements as unnecessary and are not grounded in evidence-based practice.[80] Not only are these privileges difficult for abortion physicians to obtain given the controversial nature of abortion, the Wisconsin law required admitting privileges to be obtained within one day of the law's passage. After Governor Walker signed the bill into law, a federal district court judge in the Western District of Wisconsin immediately granted a preliminary injunction, preventing its implementation. A trial was held, and the court imposed a permanent injunction against the law, with the Judge noting that clinic closure was clearly the purpose of the law as there was only one day granted for physicians to obtain compliance. Further, the ruling found that abortion complications "are rare and are rarely dangerous", thus it seems to undermine the argument that this law is needed for women's health and safety.[81]

The case was appealed by the state's attorney, yet the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the earlier ruling, and the permanent injunction. The appeals court declared, as did the trial court judge, that the state had failed to demonstrate any obvious need for this legislation.[82] The state further appealed to the Supreme Court, however, this appeal was rejected, maintaining the permanent injunction of the law. The rejection by the Supreme Court to hear the case came rather quickly after the ruling in the state of Texas' case also involving admitting privileges. The Supreme Court's ruling in Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt found that the admitting privileges requirement created an undue burden for women, and thus interfered with the rights established in Roe v. Wade.