Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey

In the words of Pulitzer Prize winning historian David J. Garrow, "Casey was a watershed event in American history." It resolved a national dispute over abortion by upholding the essentials of Roe v. Wade while permitting Pennsylvania to regulate abortions as long as the state did not place an undue burden on women.

In 1989, the Supreme Court allowed the states more leeway in regulating abortions, with Webster v. Reproductive Health Services. In its aftermath, anti-abortion groups stepped up their campaign to harass abortion clinics throughout the nation. Radical, fringe antiabortion activists threw firebombs, videotaped the children of medical employees, threatened patients, poured glue in keyholes, and distributed posters identifying doctors and nurses as "baby killers."

In 1982, the growing pro-life movement was ready to test the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which protects a woman's right to an abortion. That year, Pennsylvania passed the Abortion Control Act, followed by amendments in 1988 and 1989. Governor Robert P. Casey signed the last one in November of 1989, only four months after the Webster decision.

The Abortion Control Act required that women seeking abortions give their informed consent--clinics must provide them with state-scripted information about the abortion at least 24 hours before the procedure. The statute also required the informed consent of one parent in order for a minor to obtain an abortion, although it provided "judicial by-pass" steps for the teen to go to court for permission in special cases.

One section of the law required a wife seeking an abortion to sign a statement that she had notified her husband. The statute also imposed reporting requirements on clinics providing abortions. The regulations were lifted only in emergencies.

Before any of the provisions had taken effect, women's groups, clinics, and doctors challenged the law. Five abortion clinics and a doctor representing a class of physicians who provided abortion services went to court to have the law declared unconstitutional. The challenges to the 1988 and 1989 Abortion Control Acts merged into one case--Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey.