Abortion in America: A History of Legal Access and Legislative Challenges

The landmark 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade guaranteed the right to an abortion in the United States. Now, nearly five decades later, that right is under threat as the court prepares to hear oral arguments in a new case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. How could a decision that was not met with widespread protest at the time be under threat less than half a century later? Congress has never enshrined the right to terminate a pregnancy in statute, which has left abortion access vulnerable and led to the precarious position abortion rights have in the United States today.

The Landmark 1973 Supreme Court Ruling

In a 7-2 decision, the all-male Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects the right to an abortion. Justices find abortion is a “fundamental” right to a person’s “life and future,” and that Texas violated the rights of “Jane Roe” when an abortion ban prevented her from obtaining one. The decision was preceded by decades of activism, with momentum decidedly on the side of those working to liberalize abortion laws. Constituencies as diverse as radical feminists, clergy and doctors came together to call for reform to laws criminalizing abortion.

“When the decision came down, we were elated,” said Eleanor Smeal, who was active in the feminist movement at the time. People gained access to legal abortion up to the point a fetus could survive outside the womb. Big city hospitals shuttered “septic abortion” wards, where many low-income people had died, infected and injured, from desperate attempts to end pregnancies. Abortion joined contraceptives, legalized for unmarried people just one year earlier, as a newly available method of family planning.

Federal Restrictions and the Hyde Amendment

The anti-abortion movement as we know it today had yet to coalesce, but stridently anti-abortion North Carolina U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms did successfully pass the Helms Amendment, which banned use of foreign health aid to promote abortion as a method of family planning overseas. Later, in 1976, the Hyde Amendment, a temporary budget rider which barred Medicaid from paying for abortions, passed in the House of Representatives with a large majority. It was encouraged by Catholic bishops, and, unlike the polarized politics of today, votes were not split strictly along party lines.

The law, still in place, has made it far more difficult to obtain abortions, often forcing people to pay hundreds of dollars for the procedure. At the time, some argued the Hyde Amendment unfairly discriminated against low-income people. The policy disproportionately impacts people of color, as three-quarters of people who seek abortions in the United States are low-income.

Summary of Key Legislative Milestones

• 1973: Roe v. Wade decision guarantees constitutional right to abortion; Helms Amendment restricts foreign aid.
• 1976: Hyde Amendment passes with support from more than 100 Democrats and opposition from 32 Republicans.
• Impact: The Hyde Amendment remains in effect today, significantly affecting low-income individuals.