What if Roe Fell? New Center Publication Examines the State-by-State Consequences of Overturning Roe


In the likely event of openings on the Supreme Court in the next few years, the appointment of anti-choice Justices could lead a Court that is almost evenly divided on abortion rights to overturn Roe v. Wade.

If Roe were overturned, the federal constitutional protection for a woman's right to choose would disappear and state legislatures would assume sole responsibility for setting abortion policy. According to a new report from the Center, that means that more than seventy million women in 30 states could lose their right to choose abortion within a year's time, some in just a matter of weeks.

What if Roe Fell? The State-by-State Consequences of Overturning Roe v. Wade takes a hard look at existing state laws concerning abortion, state constitutions and state legislative environments throughout the United States. The first of its kind, the report identifies the states where a woman's right to choose is most secure, and those where it is most threatened.

Read What if Roe Fell?

Indiana Appeals Court Recognizes Abortion as a Right Protected by State Constitution


In September, women in Indiana came one step closer to better access to safe abortion services throughout the state.

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's dismissal of an earlier challenge to the state's mandatory delay abortion law. For the first time, the court also explicitly recognized that the Indiana Constitution protects privacy "as a core constitutional value" that extends to a woman seeking an abortion.

The development clears the way for the Center and the Indiana Civil Liberties Union to further challenge Indiana's mandatory delay law in trial court. The Center and ICLU have argued that the law violates a woman's basic right to abortion by placing burdensome obstacles in her path.

Indiana's "two-trip law" requires women to receive state-mandated information in person and 18 hours before undergoing an abortion. This requires women to make two separate trips to their physician's office. The law is particularly burdensome for women seeking second-trimester abortions, which are performed by only one clinic in the state. To comply with the law, women living far from that clinic would twice have to travel great distances, take time from work and make child-care arrangements.

Learn more about the decision.

For more information about mandatory delay laws, read Status of Delay and Biased Information Laws or Access to Abortion: Mandatory Delay and Biased Information Requirements .

For a state-by-state rundown of these laws, visit http://www.reproductiverights.org/st_law_delay.html.

Florida Court Strikes Down Law Forcing Abortion Providers to Give Patients Harmful Information


On October 13, Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeals struck down an informed consent law, ruling it unconstitutional. The law would have forced abortion providers to communicate biased information to their patients.

According to existing law, doctors must provide their patients with appropriate information specific to their circumstances. The invalid law would have changed those requirements, but only for abortion providers.

The judges held that "By not allowing a physician to tailor the [provided] information to the woman's circumstances, [the Act] infringes on the woman's ability to receive her physician's opinion as to what is best for her."

New Briefing Paper Examines Government Initiatives to Make EC More Widely Available

Governments Worldwide Put Emergency Contraception into Women's Hands examines the efforts of governments around the world to broaden access to emergency contraception (EC). The paper makes clear that EC is a means of preventing - not terminating - pregnancy.

It charts some of the groundbreaking steps that governments are taking to improve access to EC. These measures include registering EC products, making EC available over-the-counter and ensuring that EC is available to women at greatest risk of unwanted pregnancy, including rape survivors and adolescents.

Read Governments Worldwide Put Emergency Contraception Into Women's Hands .

Governments Commemorate Landmark Cairo Conference on Population and Development

Today, October 14, United Nations member states are holding a Special Session of the General Assembly to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which was held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994. The ICPD outcome document - the Cairo Programme of Action - marked the first time that the international community explicitly recognized that reproductive rights are human rights, called for the recognition of unsafe abortion as a major public health concern, and rejected the use of sterilization and population targets in family planning initiatives. The Programme also stressed the importance of empowering women to take charge of their reproductive lives, and laid out a 20-year plan for furthering reproductive and sexual rights worldwide.

Long before governments began work for this week's Special Session, non-governmental organizations such as the Center conducted their own assessment of how far governments have come in fulfilling their promise to provide basic sexual and reproductive health services for all by 2015. In late August, the Center participated in the Countdown 2015 Global Roundtable, an international meeting of NGOs focused on accelerating implementation of the ICPD agenda. The Center, in collaboration with Ipas and the Women's Health Foundation of Indonesia, spearheaded the Roundtable's discussion of global abortion policy.

Find out more about the post-Cairo laws and policies that governments have adopted in conformity with international standards of reproductive health care by reading Governments in Action, an online feature from the Center.

For more information on the impact of population policies on reproductive rights, read the Center's briefing paper, Rethinking Population Policies: A Reproductive Rights Framework.

Center Report Exposes Failure of Law to Address Reproductive Health Problems in India

In late September, the Center launched Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives - South Asia at a national consultation on reproductive health laws and policies in India.

The India launch of the report drew together key government officials and activists from around the country. The event occurred at a critical time for reproductive rights advocates who are working to counter the reintroduction of coercive measures designed to reduce India's population growth rate.

Women of the World - South Asia examines the laws and policies that influence women's reproductive health in India as well as Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. In addition, the report recommends specific legal strategies that are consistent with governments' promises to protect the rights of their citizens under national constitutions and international law.

Read Women of the World - South Asia .

Center for Reproductive Rights Chosen as Working Assets Grantee for 2nd Year!
Click here to learn how you can help us receive as much as $150,000!