"Abortion has been and continued to be a defining political issue in the US. The current starting point for a look at US abortion law is the 1973 US Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. Prior to this landmark case, abortion was generally illegal in the US, having been criminalized in the nineteenth century, although legislation permitted abortion in limited circumstances. In some states, abortion was available only to preserve the life of a pregnant woman; in others, an abortion could be obtained where necessary to protect a woman’s life or health."