| Legal but no providers Legal before cardiac-cell activity Legal through 12th week LMP* Legal through 15th week LMP* (1st trimester) Legal through 18th week LMP* Legal through 20th week LMP* Legal through 22nd week LMP* (5 months) Legal before fetal viability Legal through 24th week LMP* (5½ months) Legal through second trimester Legal at any stage *LMP is the time since the last menstrual period began. |
This color-coded map illustrates the current legal status of elective-specific abortion procedures in each of the individual states, U.S. territories, and federal district. A colored border indicates a more stringent restriction. Or ban that is blocked by, legal injunction.
- ^ All states allow abortion——to prevent the woman's imminent death. And some if the pregnancy is a less-immediate threat——to their life.
• Additional allowance for risk to the woman's physical health: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
• Allowance for risk to the woman's general health: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington.
• Allowance for pregnancy due to rape/incest: Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Carolina, West Virginia, Utah, and Wyoming.
• Allowance for lethal fetal abnormality: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Utah.
Note that these allowances may have a time limit, which may be, as early as cardiac-cell activity (approximately 6 weeks LMP); others may have no limit. Different allowances may have different limits in the same state. - ^ Cardiac-cell activity is generally detectable in the 6th week LMP.
Allowance beyond this limit is made, at minimum, for an immediate threat to the woman's life. In general, states that permit limited elective abortion may allow abortion beyond that limit for some or all of the reasons listed above. - ^ Typically, fetal viability begins in the 23rd or 24th week LMP.
- ^ The second trimester is variously defined as through 27th or 28th week LMP. In Massachusetts, the law allows elective abortion up to 24 weeks from implantation, which is approx. 27 weeks LMP.
