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Concept
Abortion in the United States
Summary
The United States is a global outlier among developed countries on the issue of abortion, with the subject being uniquely divisible in American politics and culture wars to an extent not found in other wealthy countries. There are widely different abortion laws depending on state.
From the American Revolution to the mid-19th century, abortion was legal in every state under the common law until quickening, not an issue of significant controversy, and most Americans held to the traditional Protestant Christian belief that personhood began at ensoulment rather than conception. Connecticut was the first state to regulate abortion in 1821; it outlawed abortion after quickening and forbade the use of poisons to induce one post-quickening. Many states subsequently passed various laws on abortion until the Supreme Court of the United States decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decriminalized abortion nationwide in 1973. The Roe decision imposed a federally mandated uniform framework for state legislation on the subject. It also established a minimal period during which abortion is legal, with more or fewer restrictions throughout the pregnancy. That basic framework, modified in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), remained nominally in place, although the effective availability of abortion varied significantly from state to state, as many counties had no abortion providers. Casey held that a law could not place legal restrictions imposing an undue burden for "the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus". Evangelical Christians were initially overwhelmingly either supportive or indifferent to Roe — citing what they saw as a lack of biblical condemnation on the matter, its perceived affirmation of religious liberty, and furthering of non-intrusive government — but by the 1980s anti-abortion Catholics to overturn the decision. In December 2021, the FDA legalized telemedicine provision of medication abortion pills with delivery by mail, but many states have laws which restrict this option.
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