Beating Back the Bans
Pre-viability bans on abortion are unconstitutional, unconscionable, and unwarranted. Knowing why is key to defeating them.
Instead of improving women’s health in any manner, laws that ban abortion at 20 weeks wrest fundamental decision-making rights from women and the health providers they trust and place them in the hands of politicians.
Recently, such bans have taken hold in state legislatures at an alarming rate. More than a dozen states have passed pre-viability abortion bans in the last four years. Just this month, lawmakers in Michigan introduced a ban on abortion at 20 weeks, and this week, Congress is turning its attention to the trend, considering a proposed nationwide ban.
As part of our multifaceted efforts to put a stop to these unjust laws, this month the Center has released a guide to help state and federal reproductive health and rights advocates address the problem with 20-week abortion bans in clear, compelling terms. Understanding the basics can help all engaged supporters of reproductive rights rally against these sham measures.
Unconstitutional
Decades of U.S. Supreme Court precedent have enshrined a woman’s right to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy before viability, the period after which a fetus can survive outside the womb.
Despite this promise, a contingent of extremist politicians in state legislatures across the nation have seen fit to impose harsh, politically motivated bans that strip women of their right to abortion care in 16 states.
While it’s a small percentage overall, there are more than 15,000 women every year seeking abortion care at or after 20 weeks whose constitutional rights are being increasingly denied.
Unconscionable
Women’s reasons for needing an abortion in this period are varied and highly individual, and 20-week bans completely disregard the unique life circumstances that surround each woman’s pregnancy.
Some women need care at 20 weeks because they encounter barriers to accessing earlier abortion care. Some—especially younger women—experience later detection of pregnancy due to less predictable menstruation. Others have trouble meeting the financial costs of care and travel.
Some women also discover mid-pregnancy that they need an abortion because they require medical treatment in order to protect their health or life. A woman may also learn in the second trimester about a fetal anomaly that would negatively impact the health of her pregnancy.
Unwarranted
Whatever her reason, limiting a woman’s reproductive health options with an abortion ban at 20 weeks not only violates her rights and discounts her circumstances, it directly contradicts evidence-based medicine and the fundamental tenets of the medical profession.
Major medical groups such as the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Academy of Pediatrics oppose such laws that intrude on the patient-provider relationship and use junk science—such as the false claim of a fetus feeling pain at 20 weeks—in an attempt to shame women and ban abortion altogether.
In fact, ACOG has been vocal in expressing support of providing safe abortion care in the second trimester, noting that this service is “an important component of comprehensive women’s health care.” Banning such care does nothing to protect women, rather, it imperils them by denying access to critical services.
Fighting Back
“The good news is that in every instance where these bans have been challenged, they have been blocked by the courts,” says Amanda Allen, senior state legislative counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “These pre-viability bans are blatantly unconstitutional, so it’s no surprise that they have not held up in court.”
But still the bans keep coming, and with federal legislation moving in Congress—a bill that makes no exception for the health of the woman or for fetal anomalies, forces rape and incest survivors to jump through unnecessary hoops, and threatens doctors with jail time—it is clear that opponents of reproductive choice are intent on punishing and demeaning women who attempt to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights.
“Sadly, Congress has taken a lesson from the states on this issue and is attempting to pass a nationwide ban this fall,” says Kristine Kippins, federal policy counsel at the Center. “We are deploying a range of strategies and tools at all levels of government to ensure that the public—and our lawmakers—understand exactly how insidious these abortion bans are.”
The House of Representatives passed legislation in May banning abortion at 20 weeks nationwide. The Senate is expected to vote on the same measure on September 22. The Center is currently collaborating with our partners and allied lawmakers to further expose the violations and threats this measure inflicts on women’s health.
Read the complete 20-week ban briefing.
