Timeline
1959
The American Law Institute (ALI) proposes a model penal code for state abortion laws. The code is going to legalize abortion for reasons, like the mental or physical health of the mother, pregnancy due to rape and incest, and fetal deformity.
1967
Apr. 25: Colorado Gov. John A. Love signs the first "liberalized" ALI-model abortion law in the United States, allowing abortion in cases of permanent mental or physical disability of either the child or mother or in cases of rape or incest. Similar laws are passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina.
1970
Apr. 11: New York allows abortion on demand up to the 24th week of pregnancy, as Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller signs a bill repealing the state's 1830 law that banned abortion after quickening except to save a woman's life. Similar laws are passed in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington State.
1971
Apr. 21: The U.S. Supreme Court rules on its first case involving abortion in "United States v. Vuitch," upholding a District of Columbia law permitting abortion only to preserve a woman's life or "health." However, the Court makes it clear that by "health" it means "psychological and physical well-being," effectively allowing abortion for any reason.
1972
By year's end a total of 13 states have an ALI-type law. Four states allow abortion on demand. Mississippi allows abortion for rape and incest [1966] while Alabama allows abortion for the mother's physical health [1954]. However, 31 states allow abortion only to save the mother's life.
New York repeals its 1970 abortion law but Gov. Rockefeller vetoes the repeal.
1973
Jan. 22: The U.S. Supreme Court issues its ruling in Roe v. Wade, finding that a "right of privacy" it had earlier discovered was "broad enough to encompass" a right to abortion and adopting a trimester scheme of pregnancy. In the first trimester, a state could enact virtually no regulation. In the second trimester, the state could enact some regulation, but only for the purpose of protecting maternal "health." In the third trimester, after viability, a state could ostensibly "proscribe" abortion, provided it made exceptions to preserve the life and "health" of the woman seeking abortion. Issued on the same day, Doe v. Bolton defines "health" to mean "all factors" that affect the woman, including "physician, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age."
The American Law Institute (ALI) proposes a model penal code for state abortion laws. The code is going to legalize abortion for reasons, like the mental or physical health of the mother, pregnancy due to rape and incest, and fetal deformity.
1967
Apr. 25: Colorado Gov. John A. Love signs the first "liberalized" ALI-model abortion law in the United States, allowing abortion in cases of permanent mental or physical disability of either the child or mother or in cases of rape or incest. Similar laws are passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina.
1970
Apr. 11: New York allows abortion on demand up to the 24th week of pregnancy, as Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller signs a bill repealing the state's 1830 law that banned abortion after quickening except to save a woman's life. Similar laws are passed in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington State.
1971
Apr. 21: The U.S. Supreme Court rules on its first case involving abortion in "United States v. Vuitch," upholding a District of Columbia law permitting abortion only to preserve a woman's life or "health." However, the Court makes it clear that by "health" it means "psychological and physical well-being," effectively allowing abortion for any reason.
1972
By year's end a total of 13 states have an ALI-type law. Four states allow abortion on demand. Mississippi allows abortion for rape and incest [1966] while Alabama allows abortion for the mother's physical health [1954]. However, 31 states allow abortion only to save the mother's life.
New York repeals its 1970 abortion law but Gov. Rockefeller vetoes the repeal.
1973
Jan. 22: The U.S. Supreme Court issues its ruling in Roe v. Wade, finding that a "right of privacy" it had earlier discovered was "broad enough to encompass" a right to abortion and adopting a trimester scheme of pregnancy. In the first trimester, a state could enact virtually no regulation. In the second trimester, the state could enact some regulation, but only for the purpose of protecting maternal "health." In the third trimester, after viability, a state could ostensibly "proscribe" abortion, provided it made exceptions to preserve the life and "health" of the woman seeking abortion. Issued on the same day, Doe v. Bolton defines "health" to mean "all factors" that affect the woman, including "physician, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age."
