Post-Viability Abortion Restriction

Nevada's post-viability abortion restriction provides that no abortion may be performed after the 24th week of pregnancy unless there is a "substantial risk" that continuance of the pregnancy would endanger the woman's life or "gravely impair" her physical or mental health.  Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 442.250 (Enacted 1973; Last Amended 1985).

NARAL Pro-Choice America supports the legal framework established in Roe v. Wade and does not oppose restrictions on post-viability abortions so long as they contain adequate exceptions to protect the life and health of the woman.  NARAL Pro-Choice America opposes Nevada's post-viability restriction because it contains a dangerously narrow health exception.  NARAL Pro-Choice America also opposes this law because it is unconstitutional to the extent that it prohibits pre-viability abortions by defining viability at 24 weeks.  A state may not prohibit abotion prior to viability, which is that point at which a fetus is capable of "meaningful life" outside of a woman's body.  Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 163 (1973).  Because viability is a point that varies with each pregnancy, states may not declare that it occurs at a particular gestational age.  Colautti v. Franklin, 439 U.S. 379, 388-89 (1979).