The Washington Post has a chart of the states and limits on abortion, including at which point abortion is “prohibited” as well as ultrasound and counseling requirements, treating abortuaries the same as other surgical facilities, and the availability of taxpayer funding. I would like to see a similar list produced by a pro-life group that provides the asterisks for the limits (rape, incest, health/life of the mother, genetic defects) on the restrictions such as prohibitions after a certain time (20 weeks or post-viability) and funding. An important takeaway is that even most liberal states have restrictions. Massachusetts, for example, restricts abortion after 24 weeks and has passed a law that is not being enforced that requires women receive pre-abortion counseling. Maryland limits abortion after viability and requires abortion facilities to meet the same surgical requirements as other clinics that do surgery. New York law says abortions cannot be committed after 24 weeks, although it is routinely ignored. The only states that have no restrictions on abortion and taxpayer-funded abortion in “most or all cases” are New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont. Three others (Colorado, Washington DC, and New Hampshire) have no restrictions on abortion and limit public funding to cases of life endangerment and rape/incest.
The purpose of the chart is to stir up anxiety about how abortion is being severely restricted in America, but without knowing what kinds of exceptions are allowed for the time limit restrictions and what is required in “counseling” it is a little misleading. Lastly, I would say that more than a million surgical abortions a year is evidence that abortion is still fairly readily available.
