How did the Webster v Reproductive Health Services decision modify the Roe v Wade decision?

Answer 1

The most important modification Webster made to the decision in Roe was elimination of the bright-line Trimester Rule originally used to determine what procedures could be performed at each stage of pregnancy.

In 1973, the age of viability was generally considered 24-28 weeks, with the Court opting to support the lower end of the threshold. In the last 38 years, medical advances have allowed doctors to (occasionally) save fetuses at close to 20 weeks (late second trimester). In light of these changes, Missouri law requires physicians to perform fetal viability tests at 20 or more weeks gestation. If the fetus can potentially live outside the womb, the abortion is prohibited. This seems reasonable in light of current technology.

Webster also covered certain issues not addressed in Roe, such as whether public funding had to be used to perform medically unnecessary abortions, and whether public employees were allowed to counsel pregnant women about abortion. This may restrict access and create a bit of a burden for lower income women.

Summary of Webster

In Webster v Reproductive Health Services, (1989), the Supreme Court decided by a vote of 5-4 that a Missouri state law restricting access to abortion was not unconstitutional. The specific statutory provisions upheld by the Court included the state's refusal to "use public employees and public facilities... in performing or assisting abortions unnecessary to save the mother's life"; the prohibition against encouraging and counseling women to have abortions; and a mandate that physicians perform fetal viability tests on women in their "twentieth (or more) week of pregnancy."

Case Citation:

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, 492 U.S. 490 (1989)