Legal terms

Legal terms

Appeal: A request to a higher court to review a lower court’s decision.  

Brief: A written legal document presented to the court arguing why one side should win.  

Client: A person or group using the help of a lawyer to argue their case.  

Complaint: The first document filed in a lawsuit, in which one person or group makes a claim against another.  

Constitutional amendment: A formal change to a state constitution or the U.S. Constitution.  

Defendant: The person or group – including government officials – accused of violating the law or another’s rights .  

Hearing: A court proceeding to examine the details of a case that takes place before a judge.  

Injunction: A court order requiring a person or group to stop doing something. More rarely, it might make them take some particular action. An injunction can be preliminary (a temporary block) or permanent.  

Judge: A person who hears evidence and makes judgments in court proceedings. 

Judgment: The final decision by a court in a case.  

Law: The system of rules for a country or community that regulates the actions of its members. 

Litigation: The legal process of resolving disputes between a defendant and plaintiff in court.  

Lobbying: Attempting to influence a politician or public official on an issue, focusing on specific bills or regulations.  

Plaintiff: The person, group, or government official who is suing the defendant.  

Policy: A set of plans or course of action used by lawmakers and advocates to guide decisions and achieve specific goals when addressing an issue or problem.  

Pro Bono: Legal work undertaken on a volunteer basis.  Trial: A formal examination of evidence before a judge and/or jury to decide the outcome of a case.

Reproductive rights terms

Reproductive rights terms

Abortion Bans: Laws and regulations that prohibit abortion care based on factors like gestational age, the reason for seeking care, or the method used to end a pregnancy.   

Abortion Protections: Laws and regulations safeguarding the right to abortion and access to abortion services.   

Bodily Autonomy: A person’s right to make decisions about their own body without external influence or coercion.  

Consent Laws: Laws and regulations requiring biased counseling, ultrasounds, and/or mandatory waiting periods before an abortion.   

Fetal Personhood: The legal recognition of embryos and fetuses as people with full legal rights. This concept is often used to challenge and restrict abortion access.    

Fetal Viability: The point in a pregnancy where the fetus can survive outside of the womb.  

Gestational Age: The measure of the length of a pregnancy in days and weeks, beginning from the first day of the last period. 

Gestational Limits: Time frames within which certain medical procedures involving pregnant people, particularly abortions, are allowed. These are based on fetal viability and health risks.   

Informed Consent: The principle that patients must have enough information before making decisions about their medical care.  

Mandatory Waiting Period: A required wait between requesting and receiving abortion care. 

Medical Exceptions: Policies allowing banned procedures to prevent death or preserve health. 

Method Bans: Laws prohibiting specific abortion methods. These often target methods used in later stages of pregnancy, like dilation and extraction or dilation and evacuation. 

Parental Involvement: Laws requiring parents to be notified or to give consent when a minor seeks an abortion. 

Pre-Viability Gestational Bans: Laws prohibiting abortion before fetal viability. 

Reason Bans: Laws prohibiting abortion for specific reasons like sex, race, or genetic abnormality. There is no evidence that these reasons are common. 

Reproductive Justice: The human right to have a child, not have a child, and parent a child in a safe and healthy environment.  

Reproductive Rights: Legal freedoms that allow people to make their own decisions about their reproductive health, including whether and when to have children. [Read more: link to Reproductive Rights explainer] 

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR): Rights related to sexual and reproductive health. This includes the right to make decisions about one’s body, to access health services, and to achieve the highest standard of health.  

Telemedicine Bans: Bans restricting the use of telemedicine for providing medication abortion. 

TRAP Laws: Regulations that target abortion providers with unnecessary requirements that don’t apply to similar medical care.

U.S.-specific terms

U.S.-specific reproductive rights terms

Dobbs Decision: The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating the nationwide constitutional right to abortion. 

EMTALA: The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law that protects access to stabilizing emergency medical services regardless of the ability to pay or of the type of care required. This includes life-saving abortion care. 

Roe v. Wade: The 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision protecting the right to abortion under the Constitution, overturned by the 2022 Dobbs decision. 

Trigger Bans: Abortion bans intended to take effect once Roe v. Wade was overturned.