@crazyguy The way I remember it the court ruled states could not prohibit first trimester abortions, but could put some restrictions (restrictions is the wrong word) on second trimester and third trimester was ok when there was a threat to the mother’s life. Something like that.
In the 90’s there was a Supreme Court case that uses viability as a barometer rather than trimesters, so viability is what we abide by now.
That’s the way I remember it anyway.
I would argue an 8th month “abortion” is a delivery. It’s a termination of the pregnancy, but the baby is viable and self supporting, and we should not allow the baby to be killed and we don’t. The ruling by the highest court was viability. A woman should have the right to terminate a pregnancy, but that is not necessarily synonymous with killing the baby.
It’s so very rare a woman doesn’t know she is pregnant by the 5th month.
Cases where the fetus has significant defects or the mother’s life is at risk should have exceptions.
In Judaism if the pregnancy is harming the mother, the religion requires the baby be removed. It is a self defense issue. The mother’s life is of utmost importance. This seems to be in direct contradiction with Christian thinking, I don’t know what the Bible actually says about it.
Remember 5,000 years ago infant mortality was huge. Any baby born had a high chance of not making it to age 5. The mother could get pregnant again, she might have other children already that she was caring for, and she had made it through childhood diseases.
I think we could argue religious beliefs are also a private matter, although that could be taken apart I guess, because law trumps religion in America.