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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   33047 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 24, 2023

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Public attitudes are downstream of power. What changed was legislation and court rulings establishing a new ideological regime, and endowing it with the power to enforce its preferences and inflict penalties on violators. The long arm of the law will reach right into your brain, and you won't even know it's there.

That doesn't explain why Roe v Wade didn't result in a similar widespread change in attitudes towards abortion.

Wasn't it illegal in every state before Roe vs Wade? Seems like there's been a pretty massive shift in opinion since even though there are still people who oppose abortion.

Wasn't it illegal in every state before Roe vs Wade?

No. Only Pennsylvania prohibited abortion in all circumstances.

Twenty nine states (Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) only permitted abortion in the case of danger to the mother's life.

One state (Mississippi) only permitted abortion in cases of rape.

Two states (Alabama and Massachusetts) permitted abortion in the case of danger to the mother's health, which especially in the case of MA resulted in essentially abortion at will because mental distress was classified a danger to the mother's health.

Thirteen states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, and South Carolina) permitted abortion in cases of rape, incest, likely damage to the fetus, or danger to the mother's health.

Four states (Alaska, Hawaii, New York, and Washington) permitted abortion at a physician's discretion.

Thanks, I had no idea. I tried to google it but kept coming up with news articles about how women had to have illegal abortions. But it sounds like it would have been pretty accessible if you were willing to take a road trip?

Worth noting that out of the 4 legal states, Hawaii, Washington and Alaska also had a requirement of at least 30 days residency in state first. Only New York would have been a "road trip" option (though I suppose Hawaii was already ruled out of that regardless of the law).

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