Running Head: Abortion Law and Policy in the United States The State of Abortion Law and Policy in the United States Student’s Name School Affiliation 1 Abortion Law and Policy in the United States 2 The State of Abortion Law and Policy in the United States Numerous debates have occurred throughout the years in the United States on the legality of abortion. Abortion is currently legal in the US with several exceptions and regulations being put in place to avoid this federal policy from being misinterpreted and exploited (Guttmacher, 2020). These regulations tend to vary in different states of America with each state laying a set of rules they feel are necessary when addressing abortion. The bottom line is that abortion in the United States is permitted before the fetal viability phase (BBC, 2019). Fetal viability simply means that the fetus is able to thrive outside the uterus hence making its termination an illegal act. The debate on abortion mostly revolves around three major groups of people, the general public (especially women), physicians and doctors, and the US law. These three entities have had a major influence on the abortion policies that are currently in place in the country. Almost all of the states in America require the abortion to be carried out by a licensed physician (Guttmacher, 2020). 19 states require an abortion to be carried out in a hospital and 17 states require a second physician be involved for consultation purposes. A few of the states also ...
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