Doe v. Bolton and Post-viability abortion

 The key question seems to be what does the Court mean by the “health” of the mother?       

In Roe's companion case, Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179 (1973), the Court defined health as follows:  “the medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age – relevant to the well-being of the patient.”  410 U.S. at 192.         

Thus, a pregnant woman has a constitutional right to choose a late-term, post-viability abortion whenever the abortion doctor determines that her health, including her emotional and familial well-being, is served by an abortion.

 In other words, although states have a theoretical power to proscribe post-viability abortions, no such law may be enforced to prohibit any abortion, no matter how late in the pregnancy, if the doctor performing the abortion determines in his medical judgment that the abortion will protect the emotional or even the familial well-being of the pregnant woman.