2012: A Good Year for State-Based Pro-Life Legislation

2012 saw state legislatures across the United States pass the second highest number of pro-life laws since the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision.

A new report from the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, looked at how many state laws aimed at protecting unborn children and their mothers were passed in 2012. 43 provisions were passed in 19 states in 2012. That number is only surpassed by 2011 when a record-setting 92 pro-life provisions were enacted. The report did not find a single instance of a state provision passed in 2012 that liberalized abortion laws.

New pro-life provisions included informed consent, regulation of abortion clinics, hospital privileges for abortion providers, late-term abortions, insurance coverage for abortion and more.