The Impact of Region On Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward Legal Abortion

Like most major social issues with which the American people are faced, the issue of abortion legalization has come to the U.S. Supreme Court for resolution. When the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decisions on the abortion contro-versy, 46 of the 50 states has statutes that prohibited abortion except for cases in which there were grave extenuating circumstances. I On January 22,1973, however, the Court ruled (7-2) that during the first trimester of a woman’s pregnancy, a state has no legitimate and compelling interest that allows it to intervene in a woman’s decision of whether or not to have an abortion (Roe v. Wade; Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 113, 1973).2 Thus 46 states had to revise their abortion statutes. Although AUTHOR’S NOTE: I would like to thank Susan Welch for her many constructive criticisms and helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.