When is abortion legal?
BY: TexOma on 2007-07-27 1:08 PM

I was having a discussion with someone and the topic turned to abortion and whether it is legal or not.  I never expected us to disagree so much. 

I contend that abortion is legal across the board.  There are no exceptions.  Late term abortions are legal and the ban on partial birth abortions never passed.

My friend contends that there are a lot of limitations on abortions.  Congress passed the ban on partial birth abortions and furthermore, abortions are only legal in the first trimester (if even that long). 

So, this discussion got sort of heated and finally he told me to "go look it up". Which I have no idea how to do.  BUT, I know that all knowledge lies within the CoJ collective mind.  So please clear this up for me. 

RE: When is abortion legal?
BY: TriAya on 2007-07-27 1:17 PM

Laws vary from state to state and there are definitely limitations, and limitations do tend to get more stringent as the pregnancy progresses. Some examples: many states require parental consent for minors to have abortions. Many states do not allow elective abortion in the third trimester. No state allows abortion for a full-term pregnancy in active labor.

P.S. Edit--under what conditions abortion should be legal ... now that's a whole different can of worms.

Edited by TriAya 2007-07-27 1:19 PM

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RE: When is abortion legal?
BY: lisac957 on 2007-07-27 3:11 PM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18174245/

3rd trimester abortions are performed by only a handful of doctors, mainly because they have ethical issues (interesting huh). One of the largest providers of late-term abortions is in Wichita, Kan. His clinic is protested daily.

RE: When is abortion legal?
BY: puellasolis on 2007-07-27 3:19 PM

The federal ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortions did pass, and the Supreme Court just recently upheld it (see Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood). Never mind that "partial birth abortion" is not a medical term, and never mind that the the ban is opposed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Also: "legal" and "accessible" are very different things. As TriAya mentioned, restrictions vary widely from state to state. It may be legal in your state, but that doesn't mean that it's straightforward (or even possible in the right time frame) to obtain one.

And I'll stop there before I get all soap-boxy.