What states had legal abortion before Roe v. Wade?
Were there any protests about it there?
An ACLU paper I found on the web said that 17 states “decriminalized” abortion between 1967 and 1971. I would imagine that they were likely to have been in the Northeast and the West.
Definitely wasn’t Texas. I doubt any state changed its abortion laws very quickly or with minimal protest.
According to the footnotes in Roe v. Wade, four states had essentially made early term abortions legal: Alaska, Hawaii, New York, and Washington.
Other states had loosened restrictions by the time of Roe v. Wade: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and Virginia.
So, my guess on the areas where abortion was legal or, at least tolerated, was wrong.
I did find an article written by a woman who was instrumental in New York’s adoption of legal abortions. Women seeking such procedures were subject to protests and other demonstrations back before Roe.