Susan Wills, J.D., LL.M.

Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act—banning almost all abortions after 15 weeks’ gestation—raises the question: “Why 15 weeks?”[1] A person with pro-life convictions could reason that an abortion at six weeks’ gestation ends the life of a child just as surely as an abortion at 15 weeks, or from the moment of fertilization. Someone who supports abortion might argue that Roe v. Wade established a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy up until birth—under Doe v. Bolton’s “health” exception—if the mother is distressed due to the inconvenient timing or other circumstances of her pregnancy.[2] And yet the choices, risks, and long-term consequences faced by a woman with an unplanned pregnancy differ significantly in the first trimester of pregnancy compared to those in the mid- and late trimesters. These very real and serious consequences seemingly never make it into the national discussion of abortion, to the detriment of the women who bear these burdens.

Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court rarely attract much public interest. One news cycle and a few op-eds are probably the norm for even the most important and sweeping decisions. But one Supreme Court decision eclipses all others in the past century. Far from being forgotten, in the almost 50 years since Roe v. Wade announced that the “constitutional” right to privacy encompasses a woman’s decision to abort her child, including late-term abortions, its fame (or infamy) just keeps growing.

In this paper, CLI scholar Susan Wills compiles evidence which shows that emergency contraceptives can operate as abortion inducing drugs. Wills examines the latest scientific studies and explains how emergency contraception has been shown to prevent newly created embryos from implanting in the uterine wall, thus facilitating early abortion.

This report examines the declining abortion rate in the United States and questions the standard line that better contraceptives are the key to reducing abortion.