A look at 50 years of Supreme Court abortion decisions
WASHINGTON, USA (AP) — The US Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe vs Wade, the 1973 decision that had provided a constitutional right to abortion. The ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.
The decision also sets up the potential for legal fights between the states over whether providers and those who help women obtain abortions can be sued or prosecuted. Here’s a look at some of the Supreme Court’s major abortion rulings over the last 50 years. During that time, the court’s membership and views on abortion regulations have changed.
1973 — The court legalises abortion nationwide in the landmark Roe vs Wade decision.
1976 — The court strikes down a Missouri law requiring a married woman to get her husband’s consent for an abortion.
1986 — The court strikes down portions of a Pennsylvania law it said attempted to intimidate women into continuing pregnancies by, among other things, requiring them to be told the risks associated with abortion.
1989 — The court declines to overrule Roe but allows more state regulation of abortion.
1992 — The court reaffirms its decision in Roe and says states can’t ban abortion before viability, the point at which a foetus can survive outside the womb, around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
2000 — The court strikes down a Nebraska law that barred an abortion procedure used during the second trimester of pregnancy. The law didn’t have an exception to the ban for the health of the pregnant woman.
2007 — In a decision weakening Roe, the court upholds the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress, which is similar to Nebraska’s law.
2016 — In its strongest defence of abortion rights in 25 years, the court strikes down Texas rules forcing clinics to meet hospital-like standards and doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
2020 — A more conservative court strikes down a Louisiana law nearly identical to the Texas one it struck down in 2016.
2021 — The court declines to take emergency action and allows a Texas law banning abortion beginning at around six weeks to take effect.
2022 — The court overturns Roe vs Wade, ending constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years.
