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according to some Fundies, Libruls "spill" their fetuses, but in reality
Women from 27 nations reported the following reasons for seeking an induced abortion:<1>
25.5% – Want to postpone childbearing
21.3% – Cannot afford a baby
14.1% – Has relationship problem or partner does not want pregnancy
12.2% – Too young; parent(s) or other(s) object to pregnancy
10.8% – Having a child will disrupt education or job
7.9% – Want no (more) children
3.3% – Risk to fetal health
2.8% – Risk to maternal health
2.1% – Rape, incest, other
Abortion before Roe
There were few laws on abortion in the United States at independence. In some cases, it was governed by English common law, which found abortion to be legally and ethically acceptable if occurring before 'quickening,' when the movement of the fetus could first be felt. Laws against abortion began to appear in the 1820s. Connecticut outlawed post-quickening abortions in 1821, and New York made post-quickening abortions a felony and pre-quickening abortions a misdemeanor eight years later. Many of the early laws were motivated not by ethical concerns about abortion but by worry about the safety of the procedure. Indeed, many early feminists, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, argued against abortion, favoring birth control instead.
The movement accelerated during the 1860s, and by 1900, abortion was all but illegal in every state. Some states did include provisos allowing for abortion in limited circumstances, generally to protect the mother's life or pregnancies due to rape or incest. Abortions continued to occur, however, and increasingly became readily available. Illegal abortions were often unsafe, however, and led to 20% of all pregnancy-related hospital admissions in New York and California by one estimate.
Colorado was the first state to liberalize its laws, allowing abortions to take place legally in cases of rape, incest or permanent mental or physical disability in the child or mother in 1967. Similar laws were passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. In 1970, New York repealed its 1830 law and allowed abortions up to the 24th week of pregnancy on demand. Similar laws were soon passed in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington. A law in Washington, DC, which allowed abortion to protect the life or health of the mother, was challenged in the Supreme Court in 1971 in United States v. Vuitch. The court upheld the law, deeming that 'health' meant 'psychological and physical well-being,' essentially allowing abortion on demand. By the end of 1972, 13 states had a law similar to that of Colorado, while Mississippi allowed abortion in cases of rape or incest only and Alabama allowed abortions in cases of the mother's physical health. Thirty-one states still allowed abortion to protect the mother's life only.
(all this from Wikipedia, except for Monty Python)
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