Abortion laws can lead to hard cases, as anyone familiar with the situation in Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s may attest.
They can also lead to politicians having to consider additional measures to shore up their existing legislation.
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Should advertisements be allowed for termination services in states where the procedure is prohibited?
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Should authorities be free to interfere with postal deliveries to prevent abortion drugs being available or even to monitor online searches?
These are issues that are emerging in the US in the aftermath of the supreme court ruling to end the constitutional right to abortion.
Abortion rights are now matters for politicians to determine. In the wake of the supreme court decision last month several states moved quickly to introduce bans or restrictions on abortion.
It was not long before the first case emerged which highlighted the implications of such legislation.
US politics: Will the Roe v Wade ruling matter at the ballot box?
Crucial midterm elections for the US Congress will take place in the autumn, with the Democratic Party predicted to lose one or both houses to a resurgent Republican Party. But the recent overturning of the Roe v Wade case by the US Supreme Court, ending the constitutional right to abortion, has angered Democratic pro-choice activists and spurred them into action. Can that translate into a reversal of fortunes for Democrats at the ballot box? Washington correspondent Martin Wall reports.
Last week, US president Joe Biden made a stinging attack on the supreme court and also criticised “extreme” abortion laws being put in place in some states which contained no exceptions for rape or incest.
“This isn’t some imagined horror. It’s already happening. Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim in Ohio — 10 years old — and she was forced to have to travel out of the state, to Indiana, to seek to terminate the [pregnancy] and maybe save her life. That’s — the last part is my judgment. Ten years old. Ten years old. Raped, six weeks pregnant. Already traumatised. Was forced to travel to another state. Imagine being that little girl. Just — I’m serious — just imagine being that little girl. Ten years old.”
The president also promised to protect the right to travel for an abortion and to access federally-approved abortion modification.
However, it was Biden’s comments on the young girl that caused controversy.
The remarks were based on a report in the Indianapolis Star about a girl who was six weeks and three days pregnant after being raped, just outside the window for abortion under new legislation in Ohio.
The president’s comments gave traction to the story but also led to strong pushback from Republicans and from right-wing media.
One Republican politician called the president’s remarks “another lie”.
Fox News said the story was “facing increased scepticism and hasn’t been verified even by left-wing fact checkers”.
The Wall Street Journal in an editorial described the case as “a fanciful tale”.
The Republican Ohio attorney general, Dave Yost, told the USA Today Network on Tuesday that the details were “more likely than not a fabrication” because there had been no arrest and no evidence uncovered.
However, on Wednesday, Ohio’s Columbus Dispatch newspaper reported that a 27-year-old man had appeared in court charged with raping the girl. A police investigator testified that he had made a confession.
In a statement after the arrest, Yost said: “My heart aches for the pain suffered by this young child. I am grateful for the diligent work of the Columbus police department in securing a confession.”
The Wall Street Journal added an editor’s note to its article, acknowledging the arrest.
However, the story was not over. On Wednesday, Indiana’s Republican attorney general Todd Rokita said his office planned to investigate the doctor who helped the 10-year-old girl after she was brought to the state and examine whether any abortion was officially reported.
He told Fox News: “We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure if she failed to report. And in Indiana it’s a crime ... to intentionally not report.”
“This is a child, and there’s a strong public interest in understanding if someone under the age of 16 or under the age of 18 or really any woman is having abortion in our state.”