Report says Supreme Court reversal would not make abortion illegal

Published: 2005-06-30

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Even if the U.S. Supreme Court were to reverse its 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, abortion would remain available virtually on demand in most states, according to an analysis by the Life Legal Defense Fund. Only seven states, which together have less than 10 percent of the U.S. population, currently have laws that arguably would restrict access to abortion if Roe were overturned, the fund said in a study released June 28. In all the other states, abortion would be limited only if new legislation were passed, it said. In the 1973 decision the Supreme Court effectively required states to allow abortion on demand at all stages of pregnancy by saying that even in the third trimester a state could not bar a woman from having an abortion for health reasons -- including reasons of mental health, a broad term that includes such things as economic hardship or emotional distress. The study said the states with laws that could be enforced to prohibit most abortions following a reversal of Roe are Rhode Island, Michigan, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana and "probably Arkansas."

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