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Updated:
July 25, 2007
Released: June 28, 2005
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NEW
STUDY REVEALS THAT OVERTURNING ROE WILL NOT
IMPACT LEGALITY OF ABORTION IN MOST STATES
Less Than 10 percent of U.S. Population to Be
Affected if Roe Overturned
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Updated
July 25, 2007: The Life Legal Defense
Fund, a nonprofit legal organization based in Ohio,
today released a comprehensive study analyzing the
current status of state laws on abortion and what
would happen if Roe v. Wade and Doe v.
Bolton, the cases that legalized abortion throughout
the country in 1973, were to be overturned.
The
study concludes that only eight states (Arkansas,
Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South
Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin) would have enforceable
laws on the books that would ban abortion. These states
represent less than 10 percent of the U.S. population.
For the rest of the states, new legislation would
have to be adopted, or significant state case law
precedent would have to be overcome. Details of each
state’s law can be found on the Fund’s
website: www.overruleroe.com.
“The results of this study will come as a surprise
to many Americans,”said Paul Linton, Special
Counsel for the Fund. “Overturning Roe
and Doe would send the issue of when abortion
should be permitted back to the American people. It
will not result in making abortion illegal for most
of the country.”
The Fund decided to conduct the “Life
After Roe” study after several
reports with conflicting information began surfacing
during the Presidential election. According to the
Executive Summary of the study: “There is
a widespread popular belief that such a decision would
make abortion illegal throughout the United States,
or that an overruling decision would return the country
to the state of law that existed when Roe and Doe
were decided on January 22, 1973. There is no basis
in fact for either belief.”
“The findings of this study are as important
for the general public as they are for our elected
officials,”said Denise Mackura, Executive Director
of the Fund. “Critical legal decisions by our
United States Senators should be made on the facts
we all have access to – not opinion,”
Mackura said.
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