Nine states and the District of Columbia have no legal limit on when during pregnancy an abortion can be performed: Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont. In all other states, abortion is either banned entirely, restricted to early pregnancy, or allowed only up to fetal viability (typically around 24 weeks), with narrow exceptions after that point.
That said, the phrase “late-term abortion” doesn’t have a medical definition. In obstetrics, “late term” refers to 41 weeks of pregnancy, just before the due date. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists notes that abortion does not happen during that period and recommends the phrase “abortion later in pregnancy” instead. Most of the public debate centers on abortions at or after 21 weeks of gestation, which account for about 1.1% of all abortions performed in the United States, according to 2022 CDC surveillance data.
States With No Gestational Limit
These ten jurisdictions do not restrict abortion based on how far along the pregnancy is:
- Alaska
- Colorado
- District of Columbia
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- Oregon
- Vermont
The legal protections in these states vary. Colorado, for example, has both a state constitutional provision and a statute protecting abortion rights, with no gestational restriction written into law. Vermont voters enshrined reproductive autonomy in their state constitution through a 2022 ballot measure. Oregon has never had a gestational limit on its books. In other states on the list, the protection comes from legislation passed after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
No gestational limit does not mean abortions at 30 or 35 weeks are common or easy to obtain. Very few providers in the country perform abortions beyond 24 weeks, and those who do typically see patients facing serious medical complications or fetal diagnoses that weren’t possible to detect earlier. The absence of a legal ban simply means the decision remains between a patient and their doctor without a state-imposed cutoff.
States That Allow Abortion Until Viability
A larger group of states permits abortion up to the point of fetal viability, the stage at which a fetus could potentially survive outside the uterus. Viability is not a fixed week; it depends on the individual pregnancy and available medical care, but it generally falls around 24 weeks. States using a viability standard include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington, among others.
After viability, these states typically allow exceptions only to protect the life or physical health of the pregnant person. The scope of those exceptions varies significantly. Almost all states with a health exception limit it to physical health conditions, and some go further by explicitly excluding emotional or psychological reasons. Alabama is currently the only state with an abortion restriction that includes mental health within its broader health exception.
How Exceptions Work After a State’s Limit
In states that do impose a gestational limit, the most common exceptions are threats to the pregnant person’s life and serious risks to their physical health. Some states also carve out an exception for fatal fetal anomalies, conditions where the fetus has been diagnosed with a disorder incompatible with life. These exceptions exist because certain diagnoses, like severe organ malformations or genetic conditions, often cannot be confirmed until the 20-week anatomy scan or later specialty testing.
The practical impact of these exceptions depends heavily on how the law is written. In some states, the exception requires certification from multiple physicians or limits the procedure to hospitals rather than outpatient clinics. These requirements can add days or weeks of delay, pushing patients further into pregnancy or forcing them to travel to a state with fewer restrictions. For patients carrying a wanted pregnancy with a devastating diagnosis, the legal landscape often determines whether they can receive care close to home or must travel hundreds of miles.
How Often Abortions Happen Later in Pregnancy
The vast majority of abortions in the United States happen well before any state’s gestational limit becomes relevant. CDC data from 2022 shows that 92.8% of abortions occurred at or before 13 weeks. Another 6.1% took place between 14 and 20 weeks. Only 1.1% happened at 21 weeks or later.
That 1.1% represents the cases most often at the center of political debate, but research consistently shows these are driven by specific circumstances: delayed diagnosis of fetal anomalies, medical complications that develop in the second or third trimester, difficulty accessing care earlier due to financial barriers or state restrictions, and situations involving minors or domestic abuse where recognizing or disclosing a pregnancy took longer. Patients who reach this stage of pregnancy before seeking an abortion are rarely doing so by choice; the overwhelming pattern is that something went wrong medically, or something prevented them from accessing care sooner.
The Current Legal Landscape
Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in June 2022, the legal landscape has shifted dramatically. Fourteen states now ban abortion entirely or very early in pregnancy (at six weeks, before many people know they’re pregnant). The states without gestational limits have become critical access points, with clinics in Colorado, New Mexico, Illinois, and Minnesota reporting significant increases in out-of-state patients.
State laws continue to change through legislation, ballot measures, and court rulings. Michigan voters added abortion protections to their state constitution in 2022, moving it into the no-limit category. Other states have tightened restrictions. Because the legal picture shifts frequently, checking a current source like the Guttmacher Institute or KFF’s state-by-state tracker will give you the most up-to-date information for any specific state.