Invest in Choice

What is a CPC?

What the Ruling Found

States are forbidden to interfere with a woman's access to abortion during the 1st trimester of pregnancy.

States can only regulate 2nd trimester abortions to protect a woman's health.

States can ban 3rd trimester abortions except if a woman's life is in jeopardy.

A fetus is not protected as a "person" under the 14th amendment.

A woman's right to choose is a fundamental right and has the highest level of Constitutional protection.

Life Before Roe v. Wade

Before Roe was decided, 2/3 of states permitted abortions only when the woman's life was threatened. The majority of other states had only slightly more liberal abortion laws. As a result:

• 1.2 million women a year had illegal, often dangerous abortions.
• 5,000 women died annually from complications from illegal abortions.

The Impact of the Decision

After Roe, women could decide when and if they were prepared to be mothers. No longer restricted by unwanted, poorly timed pregnancies, women had increased opportunities for advancement in economic, political, and social spheres.

However, an increasingly conservative Supreme Court has allowed numerous restrictions on a woman's right to choose in recent years, including waiting periods, mandatory "education" on the dangers of abortion, parental consent laws, and a ban on public funding for uninsured women's abortions.