40th Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade Decision Legalizing Abortion
ah, so that's why there has been so many stories lately. I noticed on PBS and in the on-line newspapers there have been lots of abortion stories. I guess I wasn't paying attention to the 40th anniversary part.
Before that decision the laws varied by state and after that decision they still vary by state. According to a recent Pew Research poll, the majority (57%) of those polled in the 18-29 age group do not know what the Roe decision was about, although most of the over-30 crowd knows what it was about. Also, before Roe, 17 states had relatively liberal abortion laws, and 40 years after Roe 17 states still have relatively liberal abortion laws. Moreover, in 1973 about 800 thousand legal abortion were performed nationwide. 40 years later about 1.2 million were performed. As a fraction of the population, it's not very different. They're always calling it a "sweeping" decision, but I'm not sure the impact justifies the term.
Nevertheless, I think the answer to your question is probably no. You can walk into a clinic in downtown Dallas and for 300 dollars terminate a pregnancy safely and cleanly. Prior to Roe, it would have cost much more and it would have been done surreptitiously, or you'd have to get on a bus and travel to New York to do it legally. Either way, the cost and risk would have been much greater.
Poll
