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History of Abortion in the United States

1821: Connecticut passes the first law in the United States barring abortions after “quickening.”

1860: Twenty states have laws limiting abortion.

1967: Colorado is the first state to liberalize its abortion laws.

1970: Alaska, Hawaii, New York, and Washington liberalizes abortion laws, making abortion available at the request of a woman and her doctor.

1973: Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision strikes down state laws that made abortion illegal.

1973: Doe v. Bolton The companion to Roe v. Wade; makes abortion on demand legal through all nine months of pregnancy by opening up the definition of a woman’s health.

1975: Bigelow v. Virginia Invalidates Virginia’s ban that prohibited advertising abortion.

1976: Singleton v. Wulff Gives abortion clinics and providers the ability to challenge abortion laws instead of individual patients.

1976: Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Darforth Changes some of the abortion laws: invalidates spousal and parental consent before an abortion.

1976: Congress adopts the first Hyde Amendment barring the use of federal Medicaid funds to provide abortions to low-income women.

1977: A revised Hyde Amendment is passed allowing states to deny Medicaid funding except in cases of rape, incest, or “severe and long-lasting” damage to the woman’s physical health.

1977: Maher v. Doe, Beal v. Doe, and Poelker v. Doe Upholds prohibition of abortions using public funding or in public hospitals, unless “medically necessary.”

1979: Bellotti v. Baird sets standard for parental consent laws.

1979: Colautti v. Franklin strikes down Pennsylvania statue that requires abortion techniques that give the best opportunity for the fetus to be born alive after viability.

1980: Harris v. McRae Upholds limits on funding abortion, states participating in Medicaid are not required to fund “medically necessary” abortions. (Williams v. Zbaraz, companion)

1983: Akron v. Akron Center from Reproductive Health Removes requirements that doctors provide patients with information on alternatives to abortion, fetal development, and medical risks of abortion, in addition to other regulations.

1983: Planned Parenthood Association of Kansas City, Mo v. Ashcroft invalidates a Missouri statue that required some abortions to be in a hospital. Companion to Akron I.

1983: Simopoulos v. Virginia upholds conviction of a doctor who performed an abortion during the second trimester outside of a licensed hospital.

1986: Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists invalidates Pennsylvania statute that required informed consent and other abortion regulations.

1989: Webster v. Reproductive Health Services upholds the prohibition of public facilities or personnel to perform abortions and the requirement of ultrasounds after 20 weeks.

1990: Hodgson v. Minnesota Invalidates Minnesota requirement for two-parent notification for minors.

1990: Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health (Akron II) Upholds Ohio statute requiring a minor to notify one parent or obtain a judicial wavier.

1991: Rust v. Sullivan upholds the constitutionality of the 1988 HHS regulation which prohibits doctors and counselors at clinics which receive federal funding from providing their patients with information about and referrals for abortion.

1992: Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey reaffirms Roe, that women have a right to abortion before fetal viability, but allows states to restrict abortion access so long as these restrictions do not impose an “undue burden” on women seeking abortions.

1994: Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (F.A.C.E.) Act is passed by Congress. The F.A.C.E. Act forbids the use of “force, threat of force or physical obstruction” to prevent someone from providing or receiving abortions.

1995: The U.S. Congress passed the first nationwide ban on abortion, which was vetoed by President Clinton in 1996.

1997: Congress passed a slightly amended version of the law, which was again immediately vetoed by President Clinton.

1997: Mazurek v. Armstrong upholds “physician-only” requirement to perform an abortion in Montana.

1999: The Senate and House passed the 1997 version but at the end of the Congressional session, the bill died.

2000: Stenberg v. Carhart strikes down Nebraska’s ban on partial-birth abortion. Nebraska statute banning “partial-birth abortion” is unconstitutional. This effectively invalidated 29 of 31 similar statewide bans.

2000: Food and Drug Administration approves mifepristone (RU-486).

2003: Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed in law the “Partial-Birth Abortion” ban.

2003: Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (NOW) determines that abortion protestors are not extorting abortion providers by protesting in hopes of shutting down the clinic.

2004: U.S. District Courts in California, New York, and Nebraska declare the federal “partial-birth abortion” ban unconstitutional.

April 18, 2007: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the federal “partial-birth abortion” ban in the cases Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood and Gonzales v. Carhart making “partial-birth abortions” illegal in the United States.

2006: Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England invalidates New Hampshire’s parental notice law in its entirety, and remanded the case for future consideration.

© Students for Life of America 2007