Abortion Movement: A Case Study

Other laws helped spark the abortion movement. The Doe v. Bolton law in 1973 prohibited laws that required the women to get admitted to the hospital, have her case approved by doctors, receive a medical opinion, or have her residency in a state approved before the abortion can be performed. However, the Supreme Court during the Webster v. Reproductive Health Services case in 1989 declared that life began at conception and refused to pass a law that banned the use of public funding for abortion counseling, which prohibited the use of public facilities for performing abortions and led to uncertainty about the abortion issue. While this case halted the success of the abortion movement, another case prompted the movement into motion again. The
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey case in 1992 recognized a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion before the fetus could live independently or survive by itself. It also gave the state the right to regulate abortions at any time after the initial conception, as long as it does not burden or provide unnecessary obstacles for the woman seeking the abortion. Moreover, the law required girls under a certain age to get parental consent for an abortion and it also required anyone seeking an abortion to wait twenty-four hours before it can be performed. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994 was upheld due to the controversy regarding violence towards health clinics that provide abortion services. It served to protect doctors and employees working in the clinics as well as the women seeking the procedures against the violent protesters by making blocking to entrances providing abortion services a federal crime punishable by fines and imprisonment.