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Article: Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WEBSTER V. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES
WEBSTER V. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES,
492 U.S. 490 (1989), upheld provisions of a Missouri statute that restricted access to abortions, but declined to rule on whether the statute's declaration that human life begins at conception was constitutional.
Webster
involved a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), which held that women have a constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy.
Roe
decreed a trimester approach: as a woman's pregnancy progresses, the woman's right to obtain an abortion decreases, and the state's right to regulate abortion to protect the mother's health and the unborn child's potential life ...