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Risky Procedures
During the 1800s, all surgical procedures, including abortion, were extremely risky. Hospitals were not common, antiseptics were unknown, and even the most respected doctors had only primitive medical educations. Without today's current technology, maternal and infant mortality rates during childbirth were extraordinarily high. The dangers from abortion were similar to the dangers from other surgeries that were not outlawed. -
First Abortion Laws
Connecticut passes the first law in the United States barring abortions after "quickening." -
Progress
Twenty states have laws limiting abortion. -
Abortion Laws
Alaska, Hawaii, New York, and Washington liberalize abortion laws, making abortion available at the request of a woman and her doctor. -
Jane Roe
Seeking a legal abortion, Jane Roe, 21, files suit in against defendant Henry Wade in Texas’ Dallas Country District Court. The Texas court rules in Roe’s favor. -
Supreme Court
An appeal of the decision of the district court sends the case into its first round of U.S. Supreme Court arguments. -
Roe v.Wade
January 22, 1973: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 finally decided in the Supreme Court by a 7 to 2 majority. The court held that under the Fourteenth Amendment most U.S. abortion laws are unconstitutional. -
Hyde Amendment
Congress adopts the first Hyde Amendment barring the use of federal Medicaid funds to provide abortions to low-income women. -
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey reaffirms the "core" holdings of Roe that women have a right to abortion before fetal viability, but allows states to restrict abortion access so long as these restrictions do not impose an "undue burden" on women seeking abortions.