Page 36 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

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Insurance Restrictions: Kansas, Nebraska,
Oklahoma and Utah adopted provisions
prohibiting all insurance policies in the state
from covering abortion except in cases of life
endangerment; they all permit individuals to
purchase additional coverage at their own
expense. Five additional states (FL, ID, IN,
OH and VA) adopted requirements that apply
only to coverage purchased in the state. The
addition of these nine states brings to 16 the
number of states restricting abortion coverage
available through state health care insurance.

State Instituted Abortion Restriction (Guttmacher Institute)

Our laws struggle with the fact that life begins at the moment of conception. Even though our states are trying to
restrict abortion our Federal Courts believe this infringes on a “Woman’s Rights.” How corrupt does our Federal
Government and the Highest Courts in the land need to become before “We the People” request change? How
could the Supreme Court not protect the rights of an unborn child or baby? If our laws do not protect a baby,
how can a baby protect itself? An unborn baby has no voice in this world.

Courts – Abortion

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of
abortion. The Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment
extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state's two
legitimate interests in regulating abortions – protecting prenatal life and protecting women's health. Arguing that
these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this balancing test by
tying state regulation of abortion to the trimester of pregnancy. The Court later rejected Roe's trimester
framework, while affirming Roe's central holding that a person has a right to abortion until viability. The Roe
decision which defined “viable” as being “potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid” added
that viability is usually placed at about seven months but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.
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Roe v. Wade reached the Supreme Court on appeal in 1970. The Justices delayed taking action on Roe and a closely
related case, Doe v. Bolton, until they decided Younger v. Harris, as they felt that the appeals raised difficult questions
on judicial jurisdiction. This included United States v. Vuitch, where they considered the constitutionality of a
District of Columbia statute that criminalized abortion except where the mother's life or health was endangered.
In Vuitch, the Court narrowly upheld the statute, though in doing so, it treated abortion as a medical procedure
and stated that the physician must be given room to determine what suffices as a danger to health. The day after
they announced their decision in Vuitch, they voted to hear both Roe and Doe. Following a first round of

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arguments, all seven justices tentatively agreed that the law should be struck down, but for varying reasons.
Burger assigned the role of writing the Court's opinion in Roe (as well as Doe) to Blackmun, who began drafting a
preliminary opinion that emphasized what he saw as the Texas law's vagueness. Justices Rehnquist and Powell
joined the Supreme Court too late to hear the first round of arguments. Additionally, Blackmun felt that his
opinion was an inadequate reflection of his liberal colleagues' opinions. In May 1972, Blackmun proposed that
the case be reargued. Justice Douglas threatened to write a dissent from the re-argument order. However, he was
coaxed out of the action by his colleagues, and his dissent was merely mentioned in the re-argument order
without further statement or opinion. The case was reargued on October 11, 1972. Weddington continued to
represent Roe, and Texas Assistant Attorney General Robert C. Flowers stepped in to replace Jay Floyd for

45 “Roe v. Wade and Beyond”, Frontline, PBS (2006-01-19): “while reaffirming the central holding of Roe v. Wade, the court rejected 'Roe's
rigid trimester framework'”.