Anti-abortion activists try to disrupt a march by people calling for abortion rights in Washington on January 22, 2019
State laws also vary widely on other matters like speed limits for drivers and marriage age requirements, but the Supreme Court has set a “minimum standard throughout the entire country,” noted Meg Penrose, of the Texas A&M School of Law. That said, “the 50 independent states retain the right to ensure that we don’t put a woman’s health at risk,” so long as they don’t place an “undue burden” on women, Penrose added.
In other states, like Mississippi and North Carolina, women can undergo abortion only within 20 weeks of gestation. Some 16 states with more liberal majorities use their own funds to fund abortions for the poor. Half require no parental authorization for minors and no delay between an initial consultation and the procedure.There are about 15 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in the United States, which is similar to rates in Britain and France.
Anti-abortion sentiment tends to be stronger in the so-called Bible Belt, a band of socially conservative states in the South and Midwest where socially conservative Evangelical Christians have a powerful say in politics and society.