MedicineMaternal HealthObstetricsMaternal MortalityReproductive HealthReproductive Health LawAbortion CareAbortion LawCauses Of Maternal MortalityMaternal Mortality EpidemiologyPregnancySafe AbortionAbortion Case FatalityAbortion Mortality MeasurementAbortion-related MortalityMaternal Death Case DefinitionMortality In Abortion Care
In the landmark ruling of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court identified three reasons why States might seek to proscribe or regulate induced abortion: (1) "to discourage illicit sexual conduct"; (2) to exercise "the State's interestsome phrase it in terms of dutyin protecting prenatal life"; and (3) "to protect the pregnant woman, that is, to restrain her from submitting to a procedure that placed her life in serious jeopardy." 1 .