Category: Personhood

[Ed Note: Posted on behalf of Jaime King]

On March 26, 2013, North Dakota Governor, Jack Dalrymple, signed into law two of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bills. The first, HB 1456, prohibits providers from performing an abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks gestation (Fetal Heartbeat Ban).  The second, HB 1305, prohibits providers from knowingly performing abortions sought solely because of the sex of the fetus or because the fetus has been diagnosed with a genetic abnormality or the potential for a genetic abnormality (Sex and Genetic Selection Ban).

Much of the press coverage and discussion of these unprecedented laws has focused on the Fetal Heartbeat Ban. This is largely because the prohibition eliminates nearly all access to abortion in the state and poses a direct challenge to a woman’s right to choose to have a pre-viability abortion free from undue state interference, as delineated in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.   Viability has typically been established around 24 weeks gestation, which is generally considered the end of the second trimester. The sweeping nature of this prohibition essentially negates the impact of a prohibition on sex or genetic selective abortions, as testing for those conditions, even with non-invasive prenatal testing techniques, cannot be performed reliably prior to nine or ten weeks gestation. By that point, the Fetal Heartbeat Ban would already prohibit any form of selective abortion.

But we should not ignore this law, as it is the more insidious of the two. As a direct threat to abortion access for all women, the Fetal Heartbeat Ban is very likely to be found unconstitutional, short of a complete overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Sex and Genetic Selection Ban, however, is subject to more debate. Since Roe, we have largely assumed that women can have an abortion for any reason prior to viability, but the courts have never directly addressed the issue.  Recent polls have found that over 3/4 of Americans would support bans on sex selective abortions,[1] and five states have already passed sex selection bans.[2]  The question of whether a woman’s reason matters is upon us.

Opening the door to permit states to invade and assess women’s private thoughts regarding her reasons for having an abortion strikes directly at the heart of the reproductive liberties protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. If states can regulate access to abortion based on a woman’s reasons for having it, they can significantly limit access in a piecemeal fashion – slowly and deliberately circling in on the right. Read More