The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit society of distinguished scholars. Established by an act of Congress signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the NAS is charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology.

Read “Mississippi’s Ambiguous ‘Personhood’ Amendment,” an Oct. 31, 2011, op-ed in The New York Times that set out some of the problems of biology and the law that Mississippi’s proposed amendment faced.

Read a Jan. 12, 2013, Christian News Network article about a unanimous ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court concerning a state law that protects children from exposure to illegal drugs. “The plain meaning of the word ‘child’ in the chemical endangerment statute includes unborn children,” the court determined.

Read a Jan. 15, 2013, Religion News Service story about the new leader for the March for Life rally and the next generation of anti-abortion activists.

Read a Jan. 17, 2013, Businessweek story, “How State Governments Are Regulating Away Abortion.”

Read a Jan. 18, 2013, National Catholic Register story about criticism of the Pew Forum survey on attitudes about abortion 40 years after Roe.

Read a Jan. 18, 2013, Huffington Post story in which former GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum described abortion as a symptom of spiritual malaise in America. Santorum said universities are indoctrinating young people to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other practices and are “promoting a ‘sea of antagonism toward Christianity.’”

Read a Jan. 19, 2013, USA Today story on the anniversary and the state of the debate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posts regular “abortion surveillance” abstracts, which document the numbers of legal abortions reported to the federal government. The latest online abstract is for 2009.