In which case did the Court adopt the 'undue burden' standard for evaluating abortion restrictions?

• A. Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
• B. Roe v. Wade (1973)
• C. Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health (2022)
• D. Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Answer: (B)

The question tests how the Supreme Court evaluates laws that restrict abortion. The standard in play is the undue burden standard, which the Court first adopted in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). In Casey, the Court reaffirmed that a woman has a constitutional right to abortion but moved away from Roe’s trimester framework. Instead, it held that states may regulate abortion before viability as long as those regulations do not place a substantial obstacle—an undue burden—in the path of a woman seeking an abortion. After viability, states may regulate or prohibit abortion more freely. This standard focuses on whether a law creates a substantial obstacle to obtaining an abortion prior to viability, rather than applying Roe’s strict scrutiny or trimester-based tests. Roe v. Wade (1973) relied on the right to privacy with the trimester framework and viability as a dividing line, not the undue burden standard. The other choices involve different areas of law and do not address how abortion restrictions are evaluated.