Datapoint: In Wake of Nebraska 20-Week Abortion Ban, Eight States Have Enacted So-Called 'Fetal Pain' Laws

July 26, 2012 — Since Nebraska became the first state to enact so-called "fetal pain" legislation in 2010, eight other states have passed similar laws outlawing abortion beginning around 20 weeks of pregnancy.

In the first half of 2011, five states -- Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas and Oklahoma -- enacted laws modeled after the Nebraska bill, which bans abortion beginning at 20 weeks after fertilization -- or about 22 weeks after the woman's last menstrual period -- based on the spurious claim that fetuses can feel pain at that point. North Carolina also passed a 20-week ban in 2011, although the law does not specifically cite fetal pain.

As of July 2012, three additional states -- Arizona, Georgia and Louisiana -- have passed similar measures. The Arizona law differs slightly from the other states' bans in that it begins at 20 weeks after the woman’s last menstrual period.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, all of the laws are unconstitutional because they ban abortion prior to fetal viability. This month, Arizona became the first state to face a court challenge to one of the laws when a group of physicians and reproductive-rights groups sued to block the measure.