Abortion Rights: Then & Now

1821 – Connecticut outlaws certain abortion procedures.
1860 – Twenty states have laws limiting abortion.
1873 – The Comstock Law was enacted.
1900 – Abortion was illegal in all states, and unsafe abortion methods became common.
1965 – While abortion is banned in all fifty states, some states begin to allow abortion...
1965 – Griswold v. Connecticut
1967 – Colorado is the first state to liberalize abortion laws.
1970 – Hawaii, New York, Alaska and Washington liberalize abortion laws.
1972 – Eisenstadt v. Baird
1973 – Roe v. Wade
1976 – Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth
1976 – Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth 1976
1977 – The Hyde Amendment was revised.
1977 – Maher v. Roe
1979 – Bellotti v. Baird
1980 – Harris v. McRae
1984 – US President Ronald Administration announced the “Mexico City Policy.”
1984 – US President Ronald Administration announced the “Mexico City Policy.”
1989 – Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
1991 – Rust v. Sullivan
1992 – Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey
1993 – President Bill Clinton lifted the “Gag Rule.”
1994 – US Congress enacted the FACES Act to reduce anti-abortion violence...
1996 – President Bill Clinton vetoed legislation...
2000 – Mifeprex approved by FDA
2000 – Stenberg v. Carhart
2003 – President George W Bush enacted the "Partial Birth Abortion” Ban.
2004 – President George W Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

1821 – Connecticut outlaws certain abortion procedures.

Connecticut became the first state to regulate and outlaw abortion through legislation, specifically after “quickening.” “Quickening” was the term used during that time period to describe the point at which women can feel fetal movement. Generally speaking, fetal movement begins at about five months or close to the end of the second trimester of pregnancy.
At that time, herbal medicine was a well established practice in America and the most common method women used to abort were herbal brews. The herbal brews worked by poisoning women’s body and making their bodies too hostile of an environment for pregnancies to continue. The use of these herbal brews for abortion was neither safe nor reliable. The first laws limiting abortion practices were actually aimed at ensuring women’s safety and ending the poisoning of women.

1860 – Twenty states have laws limiting abortion.

There were numerous reasons why people in various states wanted to limit and outlaw abortion in the United States during the 19th Century. The abortion debate during this time period was extremely different from the debate of today that frames abortion in a moral context.

Some country leaders pressed for anti-abortion laws. In the middle of the 1800s, women in America were mainly ending pregnancies to limit the size of their families. Some country leaders feared that if American women did not have more children, the immigrant populations of other religions and races would outnumber them, resulting in their loss of political power.

The American Medical Association (AMA) was a major force behind the drive to criminalize abortion. The AMA wanted to prevent midwives, pharmacists, homeopaths, and herbalists from competing with them for patients and patient fees. They were concerned with establishing exclusive rights for physicians to practice medicine.

Anti-suffragists, people who were against the women’s right movement, also wanted to restrict abortion because they feared that access to abortion would cause women to abandon their roles as wives and mothers.

1873 – The Comstock Law was enacted.

The Comstock Law was named after Anthony Comstock, a salesman and religious zealot, who deemed himself the moral guardian of the United States. As the Post Office Inspector of New York, he successfully advocated for a federal law that made sending “obscene, lewd, indecent, or immoral” publications or devices through the US mail a criminal offense. The US mail was the most common method for exchanging and obtaining information and products at that time. The law was meant to stop trade in "obscene literature" and "immoral articles." In reality, the Comstock Law targeted information on sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, birth control, and birth control devices since such information and devices were considered “obscene” and “immoral.” The Comstock Law aimed to enforce chastity on unmarried women and attempted to keep women within the traditional family structure.

After the Comstock Law was enacted, some states further regulated such information. They forbade Americans from asking or giving information about birth control, abortion, or sexuality, and in some states citizens were forbidden to use birth control. While such information was still available, the literature that offered the best and most accurate advice disappeared and the government replaced it with inferior and confusing information.

The Comstock laws also widened class barriers as impoverished, single, and rural women had less access to medical advice and treatment from private physicians. Birth control devices were available at a higher cost, and from fewer and less respectable sources. Women’s reproductive health and control was removed from the scientific and medical sphere and reduced to a world of backyard gossip and back-alley abortions.

1900 – Abortion was illegal in all states, and unsafe abortion methods became common.

As abortion became illegal across the United States, women resorted to illegal methods of abortion that were often unsafe. Wealthier women were able to find providers who would perform abortions; however, poor women, who could not afford private doctors, resorted to extreme methods to end their unwanted pregnancies. Some of the methods women used to induce their own abortions included putting their bodies under extreme physical strain to cause miscarriage or inserting sharp devices (often a metal clothes hanger) into themselves. The methods women were forced to use resulted in cervical wounds, serious bleeding, infections, shock, and death.

1965 – While abortion is banned in all fifty states, some states begin to allow abortion under certain circumstances.

Since the start of the century, abortions were illegal in all states, with some states allowing abortion if the women’s life was endangered. During the 1960s, several states modified their restrictive laws to allow abortions in more circumstances. Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and Virginia modified their laws and allowed abortions to be performed by licensed physicians to protect the woman’s physical and mental health, in the case of fetal defect, or when the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. Some states allowed abortions only in cases of rape or incest, and thirty-one states allowed abortion to protect the women's life only. Since abortions under any other conditions were illegal, women were still forced to seek illegal abortions. Untrained persons performed thousands of abortions each year using hasty, unsanitary and dangerous methods that resulted in the maiming, permanent damage of organs, and death of many women.

1965 – Griswold v. Connecticut

In the early 1960s, laws in 28 states made it illegal for married couples to use contraception. Connecticut had a law that prohibited providing information on birth control and using drugs or instruments to prevent conception since 1879. Estelle Griswold, the Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, and her Medical Director were arrested and convicted for giving information, instruction, and other medical advice to married couples about birth control. After a series of appeals, the case landed before the US Supreme Court as Griswold v. Connecticut. In 1965, the Court nullified the Connecticut statute prohibiting the use of birth control by married persons. The court decided that the law prohibiting the use of contraceptives violated the fundamental “right to privacy.” Griswold v. Connecticut was a landmark case, because it established that the US Constitution guaranteed Americans the “right to privacy” even though this right was not explicitly stated as such in the original document. The right to privacy set up a legal precedent that would be used in Roe v. Wade [link to section on Roe v. Wade below] to legalize abortion on the federal level.

1967 – Colorado is the first state to liberalize abortion laws.

In 1962 the American Law Institute (ALI) advocated for a change in national abortion laws. A panel of lawyers, scholars and jurists developed the “Model Penal Code on Abortion,” which recommended that abortion be legal in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal defects, and when the women’s life or health was at risk. In 1967 Colorado was the first state to reform its laws concerning abortion to conform to the recommendations of the ALI.

1970 – Hawaii, New York, Alaska and Washington liberalize abortion laws.

A more progressive opinion regarding abortion began to develop in the United States, and in 1970, many states liberalized their abortion laws, including Hawaii, New York, Alaska, and Washington. Hawaii became the first state to abolish laws making abortion a criminal act. New York also enacted the most liberal abortion law of the time, which permitted abortion through the 24th week of pregnancy when licensed physicians performed the procedure. Slowly, the general opinion of people and medical professionals, shifted to the idea that the decision to have or not to have an abortion solely involved the pregnant woman and her doctor.

1972 – Eisenstadt v. Baird

Under Massachusetts law, contraceptives could only be distributed by registered doctors or pharmacists and the contraceptives could only be distributed to married couples. Sheriff Eisenstadt brought criminal charges against William Baird with breaking this law when he gave a contraceptive to a woman after a lecture on birth control and over population at Boston University. In 1972, the US Supreme Court determined in Eisenstadt v. Baird that the Massachusetts law was unconstitutional based on the fact that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating against people who were not married. The Court also declared that the right to privacy recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut extended to procreative decisions made by unmarried couples as well as married couples.

1973 – Roe v. Wade

On January 22, 1973 the US Supreme Court legalized abortion on a federal level with its decision in the case of Roe v. Wade. At the time, abortion was regulated by individual states. Roe v. Wade was, and continues to be, the most influential court case that affects laws pertaining to abortion.

The case arose when “Jane Roe,” a young, pregnant woman who wished to obtain a safe and legal abortion, challenged the 1859 Texas law banning abortion. The Court determined in Roe v. Wade that the right to privacy gave women the right t o obtain abortion. Women can privately obtain safe abortions legally at any point during the first six months of pregnancy. The judgments made in Roe v. Wade allowed women to obtain abortions regardless of location or social status. Roe v. Wade invalidated all state abortion laws, except those that allowed abortion to protect the lives of women.

Roe v. Wade continues to be one of the most controversial court cases of all time. More than thirty years after Roe was argued and decided, people all over the county are fighting to overturn the decision as well as struggling to keep it safe.

1976 – Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth

In 1976, Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri challenged several abortion regulations enacted in Missouri. They tested Missouri laws requiring parental consent to minors' abortions and husbands’ consent to married women's abortion. They also challenged regulations requiring women's written informed consent and provisions that required abortion providers to maintain and report certain records.

In 1976, the US Supreme Court asserted in Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth that states could not give husbands veto power over their pregnant wives' decisions to abort their pregnancies. Likewise, the Court decide that states could not give parents veto power over their daughters decisions to abort without providing an option to obtain court orders to allow abortion. The consent laws were found unconstitutional because they gave third parties an absolute veto power over women's abortion decisions, and that violated women’s privacy rights.

On the other hand, the Court decided it was constitutional to require informed consent, record keeping, and reporting. Written informed consent meant abortion providers had to inform women of the medical risks of abortion, and then women had to declare in writing that they were making free and informed decisions. Abortion facilities were also required to keep confidential records, available only to public health officials for statistical purposes, intended to preserve maternal health and life by increasing medical knowledge, and to monitor whether abortions are performed in accordance with the law.

1976 – The Hyde Amendment was enacted.

Congress adopted the first version of the Hyde Amendment in 1976. This amendment was proposed by anti-choice Congressman Henry Hyde (R-IL), and barred the use of government funds to provide abortions to low-income women with Medicaid, except in cases when the women’s life is in danger and the abortion is necessary to save her life. Under the Medicaid program, federal and state governments share the cost of medical care for many low-income Americans, who cannot afford or obtain medical insurance. All states must cover pregnant women in their Medicaid program if they meet the federal requirements for Medicaid coverage. Medicaid offers comprehensive reproductive health care, including family planning, prenatal care, and services related to childbirth. However, due to the Hyde Amendment, Medicaid will not fund women having elective abortions.The Hyde Amendment discriminates against poor women by selecting healthcare service eligibility. The Hyde Amendment also discriminates against poor women who decide to have abortions.

1977 – The Hyde Amendment was revised.

A revised version of the Hyde Amendment passed in 1977 allowing states to deny Medicaid funding except in cases of rape, incest, "severe and long-lasting" damage to women's physical health, and life endangerment. The original Hyde Amendment allowed funding for abortion when it endangered the lives of women. In later years, these new exceptions were challenged, and for some time the only exception was for life endangerment. Currently, the Hyde Amendment allows government funding for abortion in cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment.

The Hyde Amendment in later years expanded to affect women who were not Medicaid recipients. Those denied access to federally funded abortion include Native Americans, federal employees and their dependents, Peace Corps volunteers, federal prisoners, military personnel and their dependents, and disabled women who rely on Medicare.

1977 – Maher v. Roe

The Supreme Court upheld a Connecticut ban on public funding for abortions, with the exception of abortions that were "medically necessary."

“Susan Roe” was a poverty-stricken, unwed mother of three whose physician refused to certify that an abortion was medically necessary. Susan Roe then went to court to try to get Medicaid to pay for an elective abortion. Susan Roe did not claim that the government was under an obligation to aid her with medical services. She argued that once the government decided to fund medical services for the impoverished, it should not discriminate against certain medical procedures, such as abortion.

In 1977, the US Supreme Court ruled in Maher v. Roe that the states have no legal obligation to pay for “non-therapeutic” abortions sought by women on welfare. The decision was that Medicaid did not have to pay for elective abortions simply because it paid expenses for childbirth, because the state has a legitimate interest in preserving life. The Court recognized the fact that poverty may make it difficult, or impossible, for some women to get an abortion, but the court argued that this poverty was not the fault of the state, and therefore not the state’s responsibility. This decision reinforced that just because a person is guaranteed certain rights by the constitution, the government will not necessarily help a person exercise those rights. This permits states to erect economic barriers to constitutionally protected rights based on politically motivated value judgments.

1979 – Bellotti v. Baird

Massachusetts law required unmarried minors to obtain parental consent before obtaining an abortion. If the minor’s parents did not consent to the abortion, she had the option to obtain a court order granting her permission to get an abortion, but the parent would be given notice of the legal proceeding.

In the 1979 ruling of Belloti v. Baird, the US Supreme Court found the Massachusetts statute restricting a minor’s access to abortion unconstitutional. The court decided that states may require a pregnant, unmarried minor to obtain parental consent to an abortion; however, when states make such requirements, they must also give minors the alternative of obtaining the consent of a judge in confidential proceedings that did not require notifying parents. This process is known as judicial bypass.

The Bellotti v. Baird decision reaffirmed the Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri vs. Danforth decision that ruled state laws requiring all minors to have parental consent for abortion are unconstitutional unless they provide a judicial alternative. The Bellotti v. Baird v. Baird case also reinforces the minor's right of access to contraception.

1980 – Harris v. McRae

Harris v. McRae was the Supreme Court case that upheld the Hyde Amendment, a federal law which banned the use of Medicaid funds for abortions, except in cases when the women’s life is endangered. Despite the ruling of a lower court, the Supreme Court determined that the government had a legitimate interest in protecting potential life, and that the Hyde Amendment was "rationally related" to that interest. The decision of Harris v. McRae represents the beginning of a gradual attempt to chip away at the rights provided by Roe v. Wade.

1984 – US President Ronald Administration announced the “Mexico City Policy.”

In 1984, the Reagan Administration announced the Mexico City Policy, which denied US family planning funds to any overseas organizations that used their own private funds for abortion services, counseling, or referral.

1988 – The “Gag Rule” is enacted by US President Ronald Reagan.

Title X of the Public Health Services Act is America's family planning program. It was signed into law by President Richard Nixon. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan proposed the "gag rule,” which forbids clinics that receive Title X funding from counseling patients on abortion. The "gag rule" specifies that counselors cannot provide information about abortion even if the patient specifically asks for it or if not telling the patient would threaten her health.

1989 – Webster v. Reproductive Health Services

The next major attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade occurred in 1989 when the US Supreme Court heard the case of Webster v. Reproductive Health Services. In 1986, the state of Missouri enacted legislation that placed a number of restrictions on abortions. The statute's preamble indicated that "[t]he life of each human being begins at conception." The statute then continued to restrict the use of state property and public employees for the purpose of performing abortions, except in cases when it was necessary to save the life of women. Presented with the opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Court voted a 5-4 majority to uphold the Missouri law, but Justice O'Conner, who voted with the majority, only voted to uphold the law and not to overturn Roe v. Wade altogether. Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Scalia both adamantly urged the Court to overturn Roe v Wade, but without the agreement of Justice O'Conner the decision was only applied to the Missouri law and Roe v. Wade was left mostly in tact. Despite the small victory for Roe v. Wade, the decision of Webster v. Reproductive Health Services had the devastating consequence of prompting the states to introduce more strict laws regulating abortion.

1991 – Rust v. Sullivan

In the 1991 case Rust v. Sullivan, the US Supreme Court upheld the 1988 "gag rule" that prevents government-funded family planning clinics from providing information about abortion to patients. Irving Rust, MD, former medical director for the Planned Parenthood health center in the Bronx, New York, unsuccessfully argued that the "gag rule" infringed on a doctor's right to free speech. The Court declared that the enactment of Title X is ambiguous with regard to abortion counseling. This decision basically meant that women who could afford comprehensive reproductive healthcare could obtain it, but those women who could not would be subjected to reproductive health care that put political agendas before the reproductive health and freedom of the patient.

1992 – Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey

In 1992, the US Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey focused on the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982. The case questioned five provisions of the act that strictly regulated abortion in particular situations. The only provision to be overturned in the ruling required that married women seeking abortion sign a document stating that they had told their husbands about their decision. The four provisions upheld by the Court required that: (1) information specified by the state must be given to women at least 24 hours prior to the procedure and that women must provide in writing their informed consent before receiving the abortion, (2) minors seeking abortion must have the consent of at least one parent, with the exception of minors who undergo the judicial bypass process, (3) a "medical emergency" provision that excuses compliance with all of the provisions, and (4) abortion providers adhere to certain reporting requirements. The case also weakened the standard to which the Court held itself responsible in deciding whether or not to restrict abortion. Instead of being held to a "strict scrutiny" standard of review, the Court would determine if abortion could be restricted based on whether or not the law imposed an "undue burden" on women. While this seems like a small change in the way the Court would address abortion-related cases, it actually allowed for much more leeway for states to impose abortion laws. The case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey replaced Roe v. Wade as the dominant Court case regarding abortion, and while it reaffirmed the legality of abortion, it also represented a serious erosion of the rights granted by Roe v. Wade.

1993 – President Bill Clinton lifted the “Gag Rule.”

The “gag rule” was enacted by President Ronald Reagan in1998 and forbade clinics that receive Title X funding from informing and counseling patients about abortion services, even in circumstances when patients specifically asked for abortion information and even if withholding the information about abortion would endanger patients’ health. This gag rule permitted censorship of health care professionals and established separate and unequal healthcare system in America: comprehensive reproductive health care for those who could afford it and politically dictated reproductive health care for those who could not. President Bill Clinton announced actions his administration would take to reverse the Title X family planning “gag rule” in January 2003, the 20th anniversary of Roe v Wade.

1994 – US Congress enacted the FACES Act to reduce anti-abortion violence at reproductive health clinics.

Acts of violence against abortion clinics and their employees were widespread across the United States throughout the 1980s and 1990s. According to statistics from the National Abortion Federation, there were 1,700 acts of violence against abortion providers between 1977 and 1994, with one person murdered in 1993 and four more people killed in 1994. In 1984 alone, there were 18 bombings against abortion clinics. In 1993, there were 78 death threats aimed at clinic employees. By 1996, bombings, threats and harassment affected about one-third of U.S. abortion clinics.

In 1994, Congress enacted the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act after recognizing that federal laws were inadequate to deal with growing violence at reproductive health care centers. The FACE Act forbade the use of "force, threat of force or physical obstruction" to prevent someone from providing or receiving reproductive health services. The FACE Act made it a federal crime to use or attempt to use force, the threat of force, or physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, or interfere with providers of reproductive health care services or their patients. The law also provided both criminal and civil penalties for those who defy the law. The FACE Act was a government step forward in protecting abortion providers and women who exercised their right to abortion.

The FACE Act was passed by Congress, largely in response to the murder of Dr. David Gunn. In March of 1993, Dr. David Gunn was shot three times in his back outside the Pensacola Women’s Medical Center in Florida. He was the first US doctor killed during an anti-abortion demonstration. One year later, Michael Griffin was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence. Griffin was praised by other anti-abortion extremists.

Despite enacting the FACE Act, there continued to be numerous acts of violence against abortion providers. Shelly Shannon was an extremist who committed herself to violence and engaged in a yearlong spree of arson and butyric acid attacks across three states in 1992. She attempted to murder Dr. George Tiller in 1993 and was convicted and sentenced to prison. In August 1993, Dr. George Patterson, who had been repeatedly stalked by anti-abortion zealots, was shot on the street in Alabama. The murder remains unsolved. In July 1994, Dr. John Bayard Britton, and his volunteer escort, retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Herman Barrett, are murdered in Florida outside a clinic. Their killer, Paul Hill, a former minister, was executed by injection in 2003. He was the first person put to death in the US for anti-abortion violence. In December 1994, John Salvi walked into two Boston-area abortion clinics with a rifle and opened fire, killing two receptionists, Shannon Lowney and Leanne Nichols. Salvi was sentenced to life in prison without parole, and killed himself in 1996. In January of 1998, police officer Robert Sanderson was killed in the bombing of a women’s reproductive health center in Alabama. Nurse Emily Lyons was horribly maimed and permanently disabled in the blast. In October of 1998, Dr. Barnett Slepian was murdered in his home in front of his children. James Kopp, who was also suspected in four other abortion-related shootings, shot the doctor through his kitchen window with a rifle. In addition to these tragic murders, abortion providers have been faced with hate mailings, crank calls, death threats, bombings, stalkings, physical assaults, kidnappings, invasions, blockades, picketings, and vandalisms.

1996 – President Bill Clinton vetoed legislation that would have banned so-called “partial birth abortion”.

In 1995, Republican Representative Charles Canady of Florida introduced a bill to outlaw certain vaguely-defined, surgical abortion procedures, which he named “partial birth abortion.” Under this legislation, physicians could be jailed, fined, and/or sued for performing procedures loosely described in the bill. In December 1995, the US Congress passed this bill; however, in April 1996, President Bill Clinton vetoed the bill, stating that the legislation should include a provision to allow the abortion procedures if needed to protect women's health as well as women’s lives.

Since the legislation was not written clearly, anti-abortion activists were able to spread lots of misinformation to the public about so-called “partial birth abortion.” Many people believe that “partial birth abortion” is a specific medical procedure that is inhumane. In reality, the term “partial birth abortion” is not recognized by the medical community. Moreover, the vague definition of “partial birth abortion” could have outlawed abortion procedures that doctors say are safest for women’s health. Many people also believe that “partial birth abortion” aimed to ban late-term abortions. In reality, the law was written to ban abortions as early as 13 weeks and there is no mention of the length of pregnancy in the law.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) stated that they supported this procedure to save the life or preserve the health of women. ACOG also determined that this procedure may be the best procedure to use under those circumstances, and only the doctor with the patient can make that decision.

2000 – Mifeprex approved by FDA

RU-486, now called mifepristone, was developed by Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu and other researchers at the French pharmaceutical company Roussel-Uclaf Corporation. Mifepristone allowed women to obtain an abortion without the need for a surgical procedure. In 1988, the French government approved mifepristone as a safe and effective medication used to medically induce an abortion early in pregnancy.

Despite the fact that the French government as well as several other countries approved mifepristone as safe and effective, anti-choice organizations managed to keep the medication out of the United States for over a decade. In September 2000, after a long political battle, the US Food and Drug Administration announced its approval of mifepristone to medically abort pregnancy up to 49 days of pregnancy. American women in the first stages of pregnancy are now able to obtain an abortion legally without surgery and in the privacy of their own homes. Mifepristone is now manufactured in the US by Danco Laboratories and is called Mifeprex.

2000 – Stenberg v. Carhart

Nebraska enacted a “partial birth abortion” law that banned certain vaguely described surgical abortions procedures, unless necessary to save the life of women. Leroy Carhart, a Nebraska physician who specialized in abortion care, brought suit against the statute. In 2000, the US Supreme Court ruled in Stenberg v Carhart that the legislation was unconstitutional for two reasons: (1) the statute lacked the necessary exception for preserving the health of women, and (2) the definition of “partial birth abortion” was too vague, placing an undue burden on women’s right to make a decision on abortion.

2003 – President George W Bush enacted the "Partial Birth Abortion” Ban.

In 2003, President George W. Bush enacted the “Partial Birth Abortion” Ban. The term “partial birth abortion” was vaguely defined and did not mention specific medical procedures recognized by the medical community. The National Abortion Federation (NAF) filed a court challenge to block enforcement of the law. The case was called NAF v. Ashcroft and is now called NAF v. Gonzales. A federal judge in New York granted a temporary restraining order, blocking enforcement of the ban while the case proceeded. Following a nearly month-long trial, the same judge issued a permanent injunction and struck down the federal abortion ban as unconstitutional because it lacked an exception to protect a woman's health. In January 2006, the Second Circuit ruled that the ban lacks a constitutionally required health exception and asked for further legal briefing to determine how to remedy the violation.

2004 – President George W Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

President George W. Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act into law on April 1, 2004. The Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also called “Laci and Conner’s Law,” made killing or causing bodily harm to pregnant women two separate offenses: one against the woman and one against the unborn child. The law also specifies that the person causing the harm to the pregnant woman does not necessarily have to know that the woman is pregnant. The law threatens abortion rights because it refers to the fetus as an unborn child or person, and gives rights to the fetus that did not previously exist.