Legal News

Statehouses Taking More Whacks at Roe v. Wade

By Ashby Jones

Roe v. Wade, which barred states from prohibiting certain types of abortions, has served as the law of the land for nearly 40 years.

Still, anti-abortion activists are mounting new challenges to the law, putting forth new state bills that seem, at least on their face, to run up against the law laid down by Roe. Click here for the CBS News article.

For instance, earlier this month, Ohio legislators put forth the so-called “heartbeat bill,” which would ban abortions in the Buckeye State as soon as a fetus’s heartbeat can be detected.

Ohio isn’t alone. According to the story, the Florida legislature pushed forward a bill that would bar private health insurers from covering abortion in plans paid for in whole or in part with any government funds.

In South Dakota, the state legislature recently passed a bill that would require any woman seeking an abortion in the state to receive a consultation within the 72 hours before the procedure. And earlier this month, both houses of the Texas legislature passed versions of a bill requiring a woman to get a sonogram before having an abortion.

The bills, according to the story, all might be constitutionally suspect. But across the country, the anti-abortion rights movement is deciding it’s high time to try to push.

Why now? According to the story:

The anti-abortion rights movement last year found itself in a set of circumstances that have all worked to advance their agenda. Most importantly, states across the country elected new, emboldened conservative politicians. Hundreds of anti-abortion rights legislators and a net of 12 new anti-abortion rights governors were elected, according to Americans United for Life.

Meanwhile, a set of news-making events in the past year — such as the passage of health care reform and video of the conservative “sting” on Planned Parenthood — galvanized conservative activists. National leaders are more vocal than ever on the issue. And a possibly sympathetic swing vote now sits in the Supreme Court.

Abortion-rights activists, meanwhile, seem to acknowledge the groundswell. Still, they predict the efforts will fail.

“When you combine that with overwhelming wins at the state legislature, this is their moment,” said Planned Parenthood’s Rachel Sussman. But “it’s an overreach, and ultimately the public is going to reject it.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 21, 2011 (boomark / email).