Have politicians succeeded in making abortion illegal in some cases?
YES. In 2003, Congress passed the Federal Abortion Ban, which outlawed certain safe, medically appropriate abortion services often necessary to protect a woman’s health as early as the 12th week of pregnancy. It has no exception for when a woman’s health is in danger. In April 2007, the Supreme Court declared the ban constitutional. The court’s holding is contrary to its decision in 2000 that declared state bans on so-called “partial-birth” abortion unconstitutional. The court’s decision also gives the green light to states to enact further bans and other restrictions on abortion that disregard women’s health. All of these bans put politicians’ beliefs above a doctor’s medical judgment and deny some women the health care their doctors believe is safest for them.
Current State Laws
20 states have unconstitutional and unenforceable bans that could outlaw abortion as early as the 12th week of pregnancy, with no exception to protect a woman’s health: AL, AK, FL, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, MI, MS, NE, NJ, ND, OK, RI, SC, SD, TN, WV, WI.
9 states ban a safe abortion procedure with no health exception: AZ, AR, KS, LA, MI, MO, NH, UT, VA.
1 state bans a safe abortion procedure with only a narrow health exception: OH.
9 states ban abortion after 20* weeks without an adequate health exception: AL, AZ, GA, ID, IN, KS, LA, NE, OK.
*Note: Arizona’s law is written in such a way that it could apply two weeks earlier than similar laws in other states.
Current Federal Laws
In November 2003, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the Federal Abortion Ban, which outlaws a safe abortion procedure with no exception to protect a woman’s health. The ban applies nationwide, even in states that have chosen not to enact these types of bans or that have constitutional or statutory protection for the right to choose that exceeds the protection provided by the federal Constitution. In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Abortion Ban.
2012 Enacted State Legislation
3 states enacted 3 measures that ban abortion after 20 weeks and do not provide an adequate exception to protect a woman’s health or for cases in which the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest: AZ, GA, LA.
1 state enacted 1 ban on a safe abortion procedure: NH.
2012 Federal Action
Anti-choice Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the misleadingly named District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R.3803/S.2103). These bills single out the District of Columbia for an outright ban on abortion care after 20 weeks, with no exception to protect a woman’s health. The House of Representatives voted on the bill in May, but it fell short of the two-thirds majority required for passage under suspension of the rules.
2012 Notable Cases
In August, in Paul Isaacson v. Tom Horne , the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stayed the enforcement of Arizona’s new law which bans abortion care after 20 weeks without an adequate exception to protect a woman’s health. Because of the measure’s wording, it could restrict abortion even earlier than laws passed in eight other states in the last two years, making it the worst of its type. The Ninth Circuit’s decision to block enforcement of the abortion ban while the appeal is pending came just two days after a federal judge in a lower court upheld the law in blatant defiance of Supreme Court precedent. At the time of publication, the court has yet to issue a ruling.
2012 Notable Developments
States persisted in the dangerous legislative trend of banning abortion after 20 weeks, with new laws cutting off access to later services for women in broad swaths of the country, particularly the South. Over the years, restrictive and punitive laws have forced women in need of abortion care to travel to states like Georgia, where – until now – laws had recognized the importance of protecting women’s health. Now, women in need of later abortion care have fewer and fewer places to turn.
The power of women’s stories helped to change the conversation around these 20-week bans, especially in states with mixed-choice legislatures. For instance, after hearing compelling testimony from a woman who needed abortion care after 20 weeks, an anti-choice Virginia lawmaker abstained from casting the deciding vote on a 20-week ban, causing the bill to die in committee. “In this case, it was just traumatic for me to sit there and think about what that woman was going through,” he said. “I don’t feel like I have the ability to make a decision as difficult as the one that young woman made.” Additionally, dozens of lawmakers in Georgia took to the statehouse floor to read aloud the stories of women who would be affected by the state’s then-pending ban. Despite the bill’s ultimate passage, the story of a lawmaker’s daughter who had to terminate her pregnancy after it was diagnosed with lethal fetal anomalies convinced legislators to add an – albeit too narrow – exception for such circumstances.
In Michigan, after a heated debate on a legislative package that included a ban on abortion after 20 weeks, state Rep. Lisa Brown (D) was barred from speaking on the House floor after she used the word “vagina.” During debate, Rep. Brown argued against the bill’s passage, concluding, “Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no.’” Anti-choice lawmaker Rep. Mike Callton (R), who voted for the legislation inserting the government into women’s private medical decisions, protested, “It was so offensive...I would not say that in mixed company.” Rep. Brown later summed up her views neatly: “If they are going to legislate my anatomy, I see no reason why I cannot mention it.”
