Reply #17: Close

[Jane Eyre]

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion laws were set by each individual state. A woman's right to choose depended upon which state she was in. There were three states where you could get a legal abortion (New York, Hawaii and Alaska), and other states were in the process of loosening their restrictions on abortion. There were no laws regarding abortion during the first 100 years or so of American history. It was only after the Civil War, and many botched home-made abortions, that physicians began pushing for regulation. By 1910, abortion was legal only in one state. So it isn't quite true, though it is MOSTLY true, that abortion was illegal in the United States prior to 1973. A woman could get a legal abortion in the US if she went to New York, Hawaii or Alaska.

The abortion legal wars have mostly dealt with issues of how much the individual states can regulate abortion. If Roe v. Wade were to be overturned, the issue of the legality of abortion would return to the states UNLESS a federal law was passed outlawing all abortions.

Here's a bit of trivia: The Roe v. Wade decision was not front page news the day that the decision was handed down, because the decision came out the same day the LBJ died.