Did Sarah Palin find out about Bristol's pregnancy

[zbdent]

after the point where abortion becomes illegal?

[rurallib]

1. The way the statement was worded sure makes one think so

"happy she chose to keep the baby" is what I believe the statement said.

[Jim__]

2. My understanding of Roe v Wade is that abortion can only be outlawed after the fetus is viable.

If Bristol is just 5 months pregnant now, the fetus is currently at the lower limit of viability. So, if Palin knew much before now, abortion would have been legal when she found out.

[zbdent]

3. I thought it was the first trimester ...

[Jim__]

4. My reading of it is that between the first trimester and viability ...

... the state can only regulate abortion as it reasonably relates to maternal health:

3. State criminal abortion laws, like those involved here, that except from criminality only a life-saving procedure on the mother's behalf without regard to the stage of her pregnancy and other interests involved violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which protects against state action the right to privacy, including a woman's qualified right to terminate her pregnancy. Though the State cannot override that right, it has legitimate interests in protecting both the pregnant woman's health and the potentiality of human life, each of which interests grows and reaches a "compelling" point at various stages of the woman's approach to term. Pp. 147-164.


(a) For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician. Pp. 163, 164.


(b) For the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester, the State, in promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health. Pp. 163, 164.


(c) For the stage subsequent to viability the State, in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother. Pp. 163-164; 164-165.

Roe v Wade