Abortion - Revision history

Admin at 19:45, 6 July 2018

2018-07-06T19:45:29Z

Admin at 19:44, 6 July 2018

2018-07-06T19:44:32Z

Show changes

Admin at 23:25, 29 June 2018

2018-06-29T23:25:11Z

Admin at 23:21, 29 June 2018

2018-06-29T23:21:12Z

Admin: /* Keith William Diener & Audrey Wolfson Latourette */

2018-06-29T23:15:32Z

‎Keith William Diener & Audrey Wolfson Latourette

Admin at 23:14, 29 June 2018

2018-06-29T23:14:51Z

Admin at 22:31, 29 June 2018

2018-06-29T22:31:29Z

Admin at 22:30, 29 June 2018

2018-06-29T22:30:40Z

Show changes

Admin at 22:27, 29 June 2018

2018-06-29T22:27:08Z

Show changes

Admin at 22:21, 29 June 2018

2018-06-29T22:21:10Z

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 === FEDERALISM AND ABORTION ===
-The [[federalism]] issue as applied to abortion relates to the division of power between federal and state government and whether it is appropriate for the federal government to act in this particular sphere. Traditionally states determine their stance on public policy issues such as family matters and medical care through their elected legislature, and such positions are not invalidated by federal courts or the federal legislature. The roots of the federalism issue in this particular context are found in  ''Griswold''  and  ''Roe'', where some commentators urge that the Supreme Court violated the limitations imposed by federalism by using privacy law to invalidate state legislation regarding contraceptives and abortion. Other commentators contend that the decisions of  ''Roe''  and  ''Casey''  do comport with the principles of federalism as the Court, in deference to states’ rights, protects the constitutional role of the states by affording them the opportunity to regulate abortion.
+The federalism issue as applied to abortion relates to the division of power between federal and state government and whether it is appropriate for the federal government to act in this particular sphere. Traditionally states determine their stance on public policy issues such as family matters and medical care through their elected legislature, and such positions are not invalidated by federal courts or the federal legislature. The roots of the federalism issue in this particular context are found in  ''Griswold''  and  ''Roe'', where some commentators urge that the Supreme Court violated the limitations imposed by federalism by using privacy law to invalidate state legislation regarding contraceptives and abortion. Other commentators contend that the decisions of  ''Roe''  and  ''Casey''  do comport with the principles of federalism as the Court, in deference to states’ rights, protects the constitutional role of the states by affording them the opportunity to regulate abortion.
 Despite the holding in  ''Hellerstedt'', states continue to maintain broad powers to regulate abortions.  In 2017, approximately 19 states required abortions to be performed only in a hospital after a certain point in pregnancy,  41 states required a licensed physician to perform abortions, 43 states restricted the right to abortion beyond varying gestational time limits (except when necessary to protect a woman’s health or life), 20 states prohibited partial birth abortions, most states had laws regulating abortion funding, 11 states restricted abortion insurance coverage (most having an exception for a woman’s health or life risks), 45 states allowed individual providers to refuse to participate in abortions, 42 states allowed institutions to refuse to perform abortions, 18 states required counseling prior to an abortion, 27 states required a waiting period before the abortion could be performed, and 37 states mandated parental involvement (often consent) for a minor to have an abortion (see  ''Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England''  (2006)).  While the federal Constitution places limits on state regulation of abortion, there is still considerable power reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment and contemporary Supreme Court jurisprudence.

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 Through the 1950's the state statutory law with regard to abortion remained constant, with a majority of the states continuing to ban abortions, although some afforded exceptions for the health or life of the mother. After World War II, doctors increasingly espoused the notion of therapeutic abortions for those women seeking to terminate abortions. Under this rubric, a hospital abortion board would determine if the health of a woman were threatened by a pregnancy, thereby entitling her to an abortion. The 1960's witnessed a more liberal attitude toward abortion, with both the American Medical Association and the American Law Institute supporting the liberalization of abortion laws. It was the U.S. Supreme Court decision of  ''Griswold v. Connecticut''  in 1965 that provided the crucial underpinnings for the assertion that the right to an abortion was a constitutionally protected right. In  ''Griswold'', the Court nullified a Connecticut statute that had prohibited the use of contraceptives by married couples by holding that it violated the couple’s constitutional right to marital privacy. Such a privacy right, the Court contended, although not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, could be found in the emanations from the Bill of Rights.  ''Griswold'', coupled with the feminist movement of the 1960's and the activism of Planned Parenthood, a successor organization to the American Birth Control League founded in 1921 by Margaret Sanger, propelled 4 states—New York, Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington—to repeal their criminal abortion statutes.
-In a decision regarded by many as the landmark case of the twentieth century, the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1973 ruling, [[''Roe v. Wade'']], invalidated a Texas statute first enacted in 1854 that criminalized abortion, and held that a woman has the fundamental right to choose an abortion based on that privacy provided in the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process concept of personal liberty. Establishing a trimester framework that focused on fetal viability, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Court]] held that during the first trimester, a woman could make an abortion decision with her physician; in the second, the states can establish limitations on that right to protect the health of the woman; and in the third, states can render abortion illegal due to their compelling interest in protecting potential life.  ''Roe''  engendered criticism from both the pro-life groups who assert all abortion is criminal, and those adherents to the principles of federalism who urge that the federal government usurped the states’ power to determine the regulation or prohibition of abortion. Subsequent to  ''Roe'', the states and Congress passed restrictive legislation regarding the exercise of abortion rights. In 1977 Congress enacted the Hyde Amendment, which prohibited the use of Medicaid funds for abortion and which was upheld by the Supreme Court. Further, Congress unsuccessfully endeavored to pass a “human life” bill and a constitutional amendment that would establish personhood at conception in an effort to overturn  ''Roe''. The Supreme Court, in a series of decisions, continued to uphold challenges against  ''Roe'' , invalidating state restrictions that it deemed inconsistent with the right to privacy (e.g.,  ''Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology''  (1986)). In other cases, while the Court reaffirmed  ''Roe'', it also permitted strict state prohibitions against abortions in public hospitals (e.g.,  ''Webster v. Reproductive Health Services''  (1989)).  Further, the Court allowed a federal “gag rule” prohibition against the discussion of abortion in federally funded clinics in  ''Rust v. Sullivan''  (1991).
+In a decision regarded by many as the landmark case of the twentieth century, the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1973 ruling,  ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', invalidated a Texas statute first enacted in 1854 that criminalized abortion, and held that a woman has the fundamental right to choose an abortion based on that privacy provided in the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process concept of personal liberty. Establishing a trimester framework that focused on fetal viability, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Court]] held that during the first trimester, a woman could make an abortion decision with her physician; in the second, the states can establish limitations on that right to protect the health of the woman; and in the third, states can render abortion illegal due to their compelling interest in protecting potential life.  ''Roe''  engendered criticism from both the pro-life groups who assert all abortion is criminal, and those adherents to the principles of federalism who urge that the federal government usurped the states’ power to determine the regulation or prohibition of abortion. Subsequent to  ''Roe'', the states and Congress passed restrictive legislation regarding the exercise of abortion rights. In 1977 Congress enacted the Hyde Amendment, which prohibited the use of Medicaid funds for abortion and which was upheld by the Supreme Court. Further, Congress unsuccessfully endeavored to pass a “human life” bill and a constitutional amendment that would establish personhood at conception in an effort to overturn  ''Roe''. The Supreme Court, in a series of decisions, continued to uphold challenges against  ''Roe'' , invalidating state restrictions that it deemed inconsistent with the right to privacy (e.g.,  ''Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology''  (1986)). In other cases, while the Court reaffirmed  ''Roe'', it also permitted strict state prohibitions against abortions in public hospitals (e.g.,  ''Webster v. Reproductive Health Services''  (1989)).  Further, the Court allowed a federal “gag rule” prohibition against the discussion of abortion in federally funded clinics in  ''Rust v. Sullivan''  (1991).
 The most significant case to be decided since  ''Roe''  by the Supreme Court is the 1992 decision of  ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', which reasserted the constitutional core of its predecessor while limiting its expanse. Rejecting a surrender to political pressure on the “intensely divisive” issue, the Court adhered to stare decisis and refused to overrule  ''Roe''. It did, however, replace the trimester framework with a point of viability test, which refers to the time at which the fetus is capable of life outside the womb. States are permitted to regulate standards for abortions prior to that point as long as the restrictions do not impose an “undue burden” upon a woman’s fundamental liberty interests. After viability, the state may proscribe abortion except if the mother’s health is endangered. Thus,  ''Casey'', which affords more weight to the state’s interest in protecting the fetus before viability, upheld Pennsylvania’s statute with regard to both a twenty-four-hour waiting period, and parental notification by adolescents or a judicial hearing known as a bypass option where a judge must decide a minor’s maturity and capability of giving informed consent.  ''Casey''  did, however, nullify the spousal notification requirement of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act as an unconstitutional provision.

@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 |}
 Last updated: January 2018
-SEE ALSO:  [[Bill of Rights]] ; [[Federal Courts]] ; [[Fourteenth Amendment] ]; [[Health Care Policy] ]; [[Interstate Commerce ]]; [[Medicaid ]]; [[Morality Policy]];  [[Reagan, Ronald]] ; [[Roe v. Wade]] ; [[State Government] ]; [[Tenth Amendment]]
+SEE ALSO:  [[Bill of Rights]];  [[Federal Courts]];  [[Fourteenth Amendment]];  [[Health Care Policy]];  [[Interstate Commerce ]];  [[Medicaid ]];  [[Morality Policy]];  [[Reagan, Ronald]];  [[Roe v. Wade]];  [[State Government]];  [[Tenth Amendment]]
 [[Category:Policy Areas]]

@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 |}
-=== Keith William Diener & Audrey Wolfson Latourette ===
+ Keith William Diener & Audrey Wolfson Latourette
 Last updated: January 2018

@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 |-
 | '''BIBLIOGRAPHY:'''
-Neal E. Devins, ''Shaping Constitutional Values: Elected Government, the Supreme Court and the Abortion Debate'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996); David J. Garrow, “Abortion before and after  ''Roe v. Wade'': An Historical Perspective,” ''Albany Law Review'' 62 (1999): 833–852; Leslie J. Reagan, ''When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867–1973'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998); Laurence H. Tribe, ''Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes'' (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992); and The Guttmacher Institute, ''An Overview of Abortion Laws (as of December 1, 2017)''.
+Neal E. Devins,  ''Shaping Constitutional Values: Elected Government, the Supreme Court and the Abortion Debate' ' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996); David J. Garrow, “Abortion before and after  ''Roe v. Wade'': An Historical Perspective,” ''Albany Law Review'' 62 (1999): 833–852; Leslie J. Reagan, ''When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867–1973'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998); Laurence H. Tribe, ''Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes'' (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992); and The Guttmacher Institute, ''An Overview of Abortion Laws (as of December 1, 2017)''.
 |}
@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 Last updated: January 2018
-SEE ALSO:  [[Bill of Rights]]; [[Federal Courts]]; [[Fourteenth Amendment]]; [[Health Care Policy]]; [[Interstate Commerce]]; [[Medicaid]]; [[Morality Policy]]; [[Reagan, Ronald]]; [[Roe v. Wade]]; [[State Government]]; [[Tenth Amendment]]
+SEE ALSO:  [[Bill of Rights]] ; [[Federal Courts]] ; [[Fourteenth Amendment] ]; [[Health Care Policy] ]; [[Interstate Commerce ]]; [[Medicaid ]]; [[Morality Policy]];  [[Reagan, Ronald]] ; [[Roe v. Wade]] ; [[State Government] ]; [[Tenth Amendment]]
 [[Category:Policy Areas]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:21, 29 June 2018
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy prior to birth, resulting in the destruction of the fetus. Such termination may arise from spontaneous abortion (termed “miscarriage”), where the fetus is delivered due to underlying fetal or maternal factors. It may also be caused by purposeful conduct including self-induced abortion, or surgical or medical abortion, where the embryo or fetus is removed through the use of instruments or drugs due to medical concerns or a discretionary decision to end the pregnancy. Induced abortion has been practiced throughout history by ancient, medieval, and contemporary societies. Public opinion regarding the propriety of such elective abortion has varied, influenced by religion, philosophy, medicine, and culture. In 1973 the abortion issue was addressed by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in the landmark decision of  ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', in which the Court asserted that the Constitution, pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment due process clause, affords a woman the right to choose abortion, within the context of permissible state regulations that reflect the state’s interest in the life of the fetus and the health of the woman. While the Court undeniably reinforced its support of the constitutional core of ''Roe''  in 1992’s ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', it also provided greater opportunity for state legislatures to regulate the manner in which abortions will be conducted.	+	Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy prior to birth, resulting in the destruction of the fetus. Such termination may arise from spontaneous abortion (termed “miscarriage”), where the fetus is delivered due to underlying fetal or maternal factors. It may also be caused by purposeful conduct including self-induced abortion, or surgical or medical abortion, where the embryo or fetus is removed through the use of instruments or drugs due to medical concerns or a discretionary decision to end the pregnancy. Induced abortion has been practiced throughout history by ancient, medieval, and contemporary societies. Public opinion regarding the propriety of such elective abortion has varied, influenced by religion, philosophy, medicine, and culture. In 1973 the abortion issue was addressed by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in the landmark decision of  ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', in which the Court asserted that the Constitution, pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment due process clause, affords a woman the right to choose abortion, within the context of permissible state regulations that reflect the state’s interest in the life of the fetus and the health of the woman. While the Court undeniably reinforced its support of the constitutional core of  ''Roe''  in 1992’s ''Planned Parenthood v. Casey'', it also provided greater opportunity for state legislatures to regulate the manner in which abortions will be conducted.

−	Many commentators anticipated that ''Roe'' would serve to balance the competing interests of the woman, the fetus, and the state and bring resolution to the issue. Instead, abortion has become one of the most divisive and politicized issues in the nation in a variety of contexts. Those conflicts include the morality of aborting a “person” as stated by opponents of abortion called “pro-life” versus the contention by “pro-choice” groups that a woman has a constitutional right to reproductive freedom. The interests of the state and federal government in regulating abortions conflict with the woman’s ability to exercise her right of choice in a manner that is not unduly burdened. Further, a jurisprudential conflict exists as to whether the Supreme Court via  ''Roe'' ~~and~~ its progeny violates the tenets of [[federalism]], and whether Congress, in issuing legislation governing abortion, violates the [[Tenth Amendment]] reservation of powers to the states to handle those issues, such as family matters, to which the federal government traditionally does not assert jurisdiction. So strongly do these interests permeate the societal landscape that judicial nominees and elected officials are often exposed to a litmus test with regard to their abortion views.	+	Many commentators anticipated that ''Roe'' would serve to balance the competing interests of the woman, the fetus, and the state and bring resolution to the issue. Instead, abortion has become one of the most divisive and politicized issues in the nation in a variety of contexts. Those conflicts include the morality of aborting a “person” as stated by opponents of abortion called “pro-life” versus the contention by “pro-choice” groups that a woman has a constitutional right to reproductive freedom. The interests of the state and federal government in regulating abortions conflict with the woman’s ability to exercise her right of choice in a manner that is not unduly burdened. Further, a jurisprudential conflict exists as to whether the Supreme Court via  ''Roe''  and its progeny violates the tenets of [[federalism]], and whether Congress, in issuing legislation governing abortion, violates the [[Tenth Amendment]] reservation of powers to the states to handle those issues, such as family matters, to which the federal government traditionally does not assert jurisdiction. So strongly do these interests permeate the societal landscape that judicial nominees and elected officials are often exposed to a litmus test with regard to their abortion views.