Opinion of the Court
Court's own count, statutes in all but four States and the District of Columbia prohibited abortion "however and whenever performed, unless done to save or preserve the life of the mother." 410 U. S., at 139.[1]
This overwhelming consensus endured until the day Roe was decided. At that time, also by the Roe Court's own count, a substantial majority—30 States—still prohibited abortion at all stages except to save the life of the mother. See Roe, 410 U. S., at 118 & n. 2 (listing States). And though Roe discerned a "trend toward liberalization" in about "one-third of the States," those States still criminalized some abortions and regulated them more stringently than Roe would allow. See Roe, 410 U. S., at 140 & n.37; Tribe 2. In short, the "Court's opinion in Roe itself convincingly refutes the notion that the abortion liberty is deeply rooted in the history or tradition of our people." Thornburgh, 476 U. S., at 793 (White, J., dissenting).
iv
The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation's history and traditions. On the contrary, an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest
- ↑ The statutes of three States (Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) prohibited abortions performed "unlawfully" or "without lawful justification." Roe, 410 U. S., at 139. In Massachusetts, case law held that abortion was allowed when, according to the judgment of physicians in the relevant community, the procedure was necessary to preserve the woman's life or her physical or emotional health. Commonwealth v. Wheeler, 53 N.E. 2d 4, 5 (Sup. J. Ct. 1944). In the other two States, however, there is no clear support in case law for the proposition that abortion was lawful where the mother's life was not at risk. See State v. Brandenberg, 58 A.2d 709 (N.J. 1948); Commonwealth v. Trombetta, 200 A. 107 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1938).
Statutes in the two remaining jurisdictions (the District of Columbia and Alabama) permitted "abortion to preserve the mother's health." Roe, 410 U. S., at 139. Case law in those jurisdictions does not clarify the breadth of these exceptions.
