Prior to 1967 every state prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother. After 1967, states started to allow abortion. Colorado, California, New York, Alaska and Hawaii were the first states to legalize abortion.
In 1970, Norma McCorvey, was uneducated, unmarried and unemployed and pregnant with her third baby. Her plans to have an abortion fell through and Norma met Sarah Weddington, who was a recent law school graduate, bent on overturning the restrictive Texas laws that outlawed abortion. Norma delivered a healthy baby - who was given up for adoption. Sarah called Norma and said she wanted to use her story in a case she was going to present to the state court to try to overturn the restrictive Texas abortion laws. She also exaggerated Norma’s story (claiming Norma had been gang-raped) and eventually the case was thrown out of 3 state courts. It was then sent to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. where the Chief Justices would hear the case and rule on it after only three days of hearings.
- The Roe vs. Wade decision was handed down January 22, 1973, legalizing abortion in all 50 states.
- The Chief Justices divided a pregnancy into trimesters - first, middle and last..
- The Court justified decision under the Constitution’s “right to privacy”. *
- The Court determined that the unborn child was a non-person, therefore the property of the mother..
They allowed abortion to be legal in the second trimester if a medical reason necessitated it and required it to be done in a hospital and by a medical doctor.
Third trimester abortions are permitted only in the case of the exceptions - rape, incest or if the life of the mother is at risk.
- Because this abortion issue falls under a woman’s “right to privacy”, very few health regulations apply to abortion clinics. In fact, a veterinarian must abide by more restrictions and regulations than an abortionist.
The Dred Scott decision in 1857 (Taney vs. Scott) determined a slave is not a legal person - he is the property of his slave-owner. The U.S. Supreme Court said “a man has a right to do what he wants with his property.” They also said that Mr. Scott was only 3/5 of a human being. Mr. Scott only wanted the right to vote. Please note the same language is used in both the Dred Scott Decision as well as Roe vs. Wade Decision.
The Doe vs. Bolton Supreme Court Decision, handed down by the same Court on the same day as Roe vs. Wade, allows abortion to be legal up to the day before delivery if a mothers health* necessitated it.
*Mothers health is defined as physical, emotional, age of mother, psychological, and familial .(# of children at home).
Please note: on June 28, 2000 the United States Supreme Court upheld, by a vote of 5 to 4, the Eighth Circuit decision in Stenberg v. Carhart, striking down a Nebraska law banning the partial-birth abortion.
This decision denies the right of the states to legislate against partial-birth abortion.
In Planned Parenthood of Missouri v. Danforth, 1976, this court case ruled that the father (married or unmarried to the mother) has absolutely no rights regarding the abortion decision and this has been upheld countless times in court cases.
Ironically, the father, married or unmarried, is responsible for a living child’s financial support until they turn 18.
Abortion in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act was passed in 1989 but was held up by court injunction until May, 1994..This resulted in the sharpest drop in the daily abortion rate. It dropped more than 22% in four years. As a result, Pennsylvania was among the nation’s leaders with the third-fastest declining abortion rate in the nation.
- Abortion for unemancipated minors requires the consent of at least one parent prior to an abortion, unless a judge rules the minor is competent to make the decision herself.(Judicial bypass)
- Women are provided a right to know for informed consent. 24 hours prior to an abortion.
- Abortion is legal for any reason by any means during the first six months of pregnancy, the second trimester abortions must be done in a hospital, but in the last trimester of pregnancy abortion is restricted only to cases then the life or health of the mother is seriously threatened.
The abortionist must offer the woman information about the gestation of her baby, the development of the unborn child, the physical dangers of abortion for her health, the opportunity to view her child on an ultrasound and alternatives available to her, including financial assistance if she bears the child. *
The mother is allowed under the law to refuse any or all of this information, but the law requires the abortionist to make it available.
The woman then must wait 24 hours to reflect on her decision before the abortion can be done.
The DVPLA are agencies that share a common desire to provide real, practical options that include pregnancy testing and counseling, comprehensive pre-natal and post-natal care, housing assistance, family support, post-abortion counseling as well as adoption services
*The Delaware Valley Pro-Life Alliance DVPLA - has a 24 hour hot line 610-626-4006
