Why Alabama’s abortion ban is reminiscent of Pennsylvania challenge to Roe v. Wade

The landmark Supreme Court case from Pennsylvania, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, didn't overturn Roe v. Wade. But could Alabama's anti-abortion law?

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Protesters for women's rights hold a rally on the Alabama Capitol steps to protest a law passed last week making abortion a felony in nearly all cases with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, Sunday, May 19, 2019, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Protesters for women's rights hold a rally on the Alabama Capitol steps to protest a law passed last week making abortion a felony in nearly all cases with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest, Sunday, May 19, 2019, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Alabama’s new law outlawing almost all abortions in that state is part of a strategy to challenge abortion nationwide, written so it could get the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its 1973 Roe V. Wade ruling. But it wasn’t the first law to do so. On this update episode of The Why, WESA reporter Lucy Perkins walks us through Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 Supreme Court case from Pennsylvania that took a similar tact, and explains why Alabama’s new law could challenge Roe in ways that case couldn’t.

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