From Early Laws To Arizona: How Abortion Laws Have Evolved In The US Over The Decades

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a foetus can be referred to as an "unborn human being" in pamphlets for voters to decide about the constitutional right to an abortion. This ruling is seen as a victory for Republican lawmakers who advocated for this terminology. Activists fighting for abortion rights didn't agree with the decision and said that they were "deeply disappointed" by it.

According to the BBC, pro-choice activists criticised the ruling, saying the phrase is "biased," b but the state's top court said the wording did not break impartiality rules. America has been locked in a bitter debate over reproductive freedoms since the US Supreme Court rescinded the nationwide right to abortion two years ago.

For many years, the abortion debate in the US has been extremely contentious. Let's examine the history of abortion-related rules, debates, and public views in the United States in brief.

Early America: According to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, until the mid-19th century, the US attitude towards abortion was much the same as it had often been elsewhere throughout history: it was a quiet reality, legal until "quickening" (when foetal motion could be felt by the mother). In the eyes of the law, the foetus wasn't a "separate, distinct entity until then," but rather an extension of the mother.

19th Century: America's first anti-abortion movement wasn't driven primarily by moral or religious concerns like it is today. Instead, abortion's first major foe in the US was physicians on a mission to regulate medicine. Medical profession opposition grew, and by the late 1800s, most states had laws criminalising all or most abortions.

1973: The landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade legalised abortion nationwide, establishing a woman's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy. However, this decision has been met with opposition, particularly from conservative and religious groups who view abortion as the taking of an innocent life.

1990: According to ABC News, President Bill Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinics Act on May 26, 1994. The Act makes it a federal crime to physically obstruct the entrance to a clinic or to use force, the threat of force, or physical obstruction, such as a sit-in, to interfere with, injure, or intimidate clinic workers or women seeking abortions or other reproductive health services.

2022: In May 2022, a leaked draft opinion by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito indicated that the Court would strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights. On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving abortion decisions up to states and no longer a constitutional right.

2024: On August 14th, judges in Arizona allowed officials to call a foetus an "unborn human being" in public information leaflets ahead of a statewide vote on abortion in November.