From axios.com
The Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade gave states the power to individually regulate abortion — or even ban it completely — before viability, known as the point when a fetus can survive outside the womb.
The big picture: The legality of abortion later in pregnancy has changed dramatically post-Roe.
- Under Roe, states could regulate abortion after viability, which is generally considered to be between 24 to 28 weeks after a patient’s last menstrual period.
- Despite Roe, some states implemented bans before the 24-week mark largely based on the “unfounded assertion” that a fetus can feel pain at 22 weeks, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
Where things stand today
- States now have a variety of gestational limits on the procedure.
- Fertilization: 14 states have laws in effect banning nearly all abortions starting at fertilization.
- Six weeks: South Carolina and Georgia are the only states that have laws in effect banning abortions when cardiac activity has been detected in an embryo, which is at around six weeks.
- 12 weeks: Nebraska and North Carolina are the two states that currently ban abortion at the 12-week mark.
- 15 weeks: Arizona and Florida ban abortion at 15 weeks.
- 18 weeks: Utah is the only state that currently bans abortion at 18 weeks of pregnancy.
- 22 weeks: Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin ban abortions at 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Over half of states have restrictions in place only at or after viability, or have no limit at all.
- 24 weeks: Four states ban abortions at 24 weeks of pregnancy.
- Viability: 14 states ban abortions after the fetus is considered viable. Some laws that don’t specify a limit say it’s up to the abortion provider’s “judgment” to determine whether a fetus is viable.
- Third trimester: Virginia is the only state that prohibits abortions in the pregnancy’s third trimester, which starts at around 25 weeks, per Guttmacher. It’s also the lone southern state that hasn’t banned or restricted abortion since the end of Roe.
No limit: Six states and Washington, D.C., do not impose any term restrictions. That has not changed since the overturning of Roe.
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