Also known as: viable children · viability
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An unborn child that has reached the developmental stage at which it is capable of sustained survival outside the womb with or without medical assistance.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Victoria Vernon, twenty weeks pregnant with a viable child, seeks an abortion in a state that prohibits the procedure after fifteen weeks. The state enforces its statute under rational basis review. A federal court upholds the law because no constitutional right to abortion exists and the regulation rationally advances the state's interest in potential life.
Victor Vargas operates a clinic that performs abortions on fetuses the state deems viable at twenty-four weeks. After Dobbs, the state enacts a ban at twenty weeks. The clinic sues, but the court dismisses the claim because states now hold authority to set viability standards and prohibit abortions before that point.
Vivian Velez, eighteen weeks pregnant with a nonviable fetus, seeks an abortion in a state that bans the procedure after fifteen weeks. After Dobbs, the state enforces its statute under rational basis review. A federal court upholds the law because no constitutional right to abortion exists.
Vanessa Vega, twenty-six weeks pregnant with a viable child, challenges a state ban on abortions after twenty weeks. The court applies rational basis review and upholds the provision because the regulation rationally advances the state's interest in potential life.
Vito Villarreal argues that a state law restricting late-term abortions of a viable child violates substantive due process. The court rejects the claim because the asserted right is not deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition.
Veronica Villanueva, carrying a viable child, claims a state abortion restriction interferes with her fundamental right to marry. The court separates the issues and upholds the viability-based limit because marriage rights do not extend to a constitutional entitlement to terminate a viable pregnancy.
Viability occurs when a fetus can survive outside the womb with or without medical assistance, a determination that rests on medical evidence and varies with technological advances.
Supporting sources
Yes. Dobbs returns authority to the states to regulate or prohibit abortion both before and after viability, subject only to rational basis review and other constitutional protections.
Supporting sources
Roe and Casey recognized a constitutional right to abortion before viability and prohibited states from banning the procedure before that point, whereas Dobbs overrules those holdings and leaves viability regulation to the states.
Supporting sources
…the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health. Pp. 163-164. (e) For the stage subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical…