Critical Perspectives on Abortion by Anne C. Cunningham

Author:Anne C. Cunningham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Enslow Publishing, LLC

THE SUPREME COURT HAS LONG RECOGNIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF PROTECTING WOMEN’S HEALTH

•Roe v. Wade (1973):8 By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court invalidated a Texas law that prohibited abortion in all cases except when necessary to save a woman’s life. The court placed great emphasis on women’s health, holding that after the first trimester a state may regulate abortion to promote women’s health, and that after fetal viability, abortion may be regulated or prohibited only if there are exceptions to protect the woman’s life and health.

•Doe v. Bolton (1973):9 Decided with Roe v. Wade, Doe invalidated provisions of Georgia’s very restrictive abortion law. The law included among other requirements that a woman secure the approval of three physicians and a hospital committee before she could obtain abortion care. The court held that a physician’s decision to provide abortion services must rest upon “his best clinical judgment,” which includes all factors relevant to the woman’s health, including physical condition, mental health, psychological condition, family circumstances, and age.

•Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992):10 By a narrow 5-4 vote, the court reaffirmed Roe v. Wade’s essential holdings, including the centrality of women’s health. The court recognized a woman’s right to choose abortion before viability without undue interference from the state. This decision affirmed a state’s right to restrict abortion services after fetal viability but required that any restrictions include exceptions to protect a woman’s life and health.

•Stenberg v. Carhart (2000):11 By a slim 5-4 majority, the Supreme Court held unconstitutional Nebraska’s ban that outlawed abortion care as early as the 12th week of pregnancy (a ban on so-called “partial-birth” abortion). The court struck down the law in large part because it had no exception for women’s health. The court clarified that the health exception must protect women against health risks caused by the pregnancy as well as health risks caused by a regulation that forces a doctor to choose a less medically appropriate procedure. “[A] risk to a woman’s health is the same whether it happens to arise from regulating a particular method of abortion, or from barring abortion entirely.”12 The court explicitly recognized that “the absence of a health exception will place women at an unnecessary risk of tragic health consequences.”13

•Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood (2006): The Supreme Court accepted this case to review two questions, one relating to the requirement of health exceptions in laws restricting abortion.14 Specifically, the court agreed to consider the question of whether a parental-notification law requires a medical emergency provision. The case was decided largely on technical grounds and returned to the lower courts for a final decision, but the court did restate its precedent that the government may not endanger women’s health when regulating abortion services: “New Hampshire does not dispute, and our precedents hold, that a State may not restrict access to abortions that are ‘necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for preservation of the life or health of the mother.’“15 (While the lower court was considering the remanded case, New Hampshire legislators repealed the parental-notification law at issue, rendering the remaining issue moot.

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