ry with abortion in the court system. This excerpt is a timeline that shows how far abortion has come within the courts in past 25 years, including the problems that they still face.1976- The Missouri legislatures attempt to impose husband and parental consent for an abortion and a ban on the most common second-trimester abortion method (then saline amniocentesis) is struck down in a suit brought by Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri. Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth, 428 U.S. 52 (1976). 1979- A Missouri requirement that abortions after the first trimester must be performed in hospitals is found unconstitutional in a case filed by Planned Parenthood of Kansas City. Another anti-abortion law, mandating parental consent or court authorization for an abortion, is upheld. Planned Parenthood of Kansas City, Missouri v. Ashcroft, 463 U.S. 476 (1979). 1979- John Franklin, medical director at a Pennsylvania Planned Parenthood affiliate, succeeds in challenging a vague state law that places unnecessary restrictions on doctors performing abortions when a fetus is or "may be" viable. Colautti v. Franklin, 439 U.S. 379 (1979). 1986- Pennsylvania Planned Parenthood affiliates join in a challenge to several state abortion restrictions, which leads to a resounding affirmation of a womans constitutional right to choose abortion. State-scripted lectures biased against abortion and extreme, health-threatening limits on post-viability abortions are struck down. Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 476 U.S. 747 (1986). 1989- A law declaring that life begins at conception, mandating viability tests after 20 weeks gestation, and barring the use of public facilities for abortion services is found constitutional despite the legal challenge by Missouri clinics affiliated with Planned Parenthood. The decision marks the first time that five Justices do not explicitly reaffirm Roe. Webster v. Reproductive Health ...
