Hundreds of laws in the US regulate women’s bodies, and no single statute pulls them together. The rules sit in criminal codes, employment statutes, insurance mandates, tax provisions, civil rights frameworks, and federal health regulations, spread across the federal government, fifty states, and thousands of localities. Many never use the word “women” but shape medical care, workplace treatment, and personal safety in concrete ways. The map below walks through the major categories, the federal baseline in each, and the places where state law does most of the work.
Reproductive Care
Abortion After Dobbs
In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, holding that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and returning regulatory authority to the states.1Supreme Court of the United States. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Access now depends almost entirely on geography. As of early 2026, thirteen states enforce total abortion bans, nine states and the District of Columbia impose no gestational limits, and the rest set cutoffs somewhere in between.
Even where abortion remains legal, secondary rules add friction. About two dozen states require a mandatory waiting period, typically 24 to 72 hours, between an initial consultation and the procedure.2Guttmacher Institute. Counseling and Waiting Period Requirements for Abortion Many require parental notification or consent for minors.
Medication abortion has its own overlay. Around half the states that allow abortion restrict who can prescribe the two-drug regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol, often limiting it to physicians. Several ban telehealth prescribing, require in-person visits, or prohibit mailing the pills.3Guttmacher Institute. Medication Abortion Above the state layer, the FDA runs a risk evaluation program for mifepristone that sets conditions for safe use nationally.4Food and Drug Administration. Questions and Answers on Mifepristone for Medical Termination of Pregnancy Through Ten Weeks Gestation
Contraception
The right to use contraception rests on two Supreme Court decisions. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) struck down a state ban on contraceptive use by married couples, locating a right to marital privacy in the Bill of Rights.5Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) extended that protection to unmarried individuals on equal protection grounds.6Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972)
The Affordable Care Act builds on that base by requiring most private insurance plans to cover all FDA-approved contraceptive methods with no copay and no deductible.7HealthCare.gov. Birth Control Benefits and Reproductive Health Care Options There are holes. After Burwell v. Hobby Lobby in 2014, closely held for-profit corporations with sincere religious objections may opt out of the mandate, and later regulations extended exemptions to certain religious employers and nonprofits.8Legal Information Institute. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. Coverage depends partly on who employs you.
Working While Pregnant or Nursing
Four federal statutes protect pregnant and postpartum workers, each with its own eligibility rules and gaps.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amended Title VII to treat pregnancy discrimination as sex discrimination. Employers with fifteen or more employees must treat pregnant workers the same as any other employee with a comparable ability or inability to work.9U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, effective 2023, goes further. Employers with fifteen or more workers must provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy and childbirth, such as more frequent breaks, modified schedules, or temporary reassignment, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship.10U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pregnant Workers Fairness Act The law closed a loophole where an employer could technically treat pregnant workers “equally” by refusing accommodations to everyone.
The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees twelve weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth and care of a newborn or for a serious health condition, which includes pregnancy complications.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 2612 – Leave Requirement To qualify, you must work for an employer with at least fifty employees, have been there for at least twelve months, and have logged at least 1,250 hours in the previous year.12U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) That fifty-employee threshold leaves millions of workers at smaller companies uncovered.
The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, passed in late 2022, requires most employers to provide reasonable break time and a private space that is not a bathroom for expressing breast milk for up to one year after birth.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 218d – Breastfeeding Accommodations in the Workplace Employers with fewer than fifty workers may claim an exemption for significant difficulty or expense. Air carrier crewmembers are excluded entirely.
Deadlines are short. You generally have 180 days from a discriminatory act to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, extended to 300 days in states with their own anti-discrimination agencies.14U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
Health Coverage and Emergency Care
The Affordable Care Act treats maternity and newborn care as one of ten essential health benefit categories, so individual and small-group plans must cover pregnancy and childbirth.15Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Information on Essential Health Benefits (EHB) Benchmark Plans Coverage applies even if the pregnancy began before the policy started.16HealthCare.gov. Health Coverage Options for Pregnant or Soon to Be Pregnant Women
Most private plans must also cover a set of preventive services for women with no out-of-pocket cost. These include well-woman visits, mammography, cervical cancer screening, screening for intimate partner violence, anxiety screening, and contraceptive counseling.17HealthCare.gov. Preventive Care Benefits for Women The Health Resources and Services Administration writes the clinical guidelines and updates them periodically.18Health Resources and Services Administration. Women’s Preventive Services Guidelines
Separate from insurance, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires every hospital that participates in Medicare to screen anyone who arrives at the emergency department and stabilize any emergency medical condition, including active labor, regardless of ability to pay or insurance status.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 1395dd – Examination and Treatment for Emergency Medical Conditions and Women in Labor A hospital cannot turn away a woman in labor or transfer her before stabilization except under narrow conditions.
Consent to Sterilization
Informed consent for medical procedures is governed mainly by state law: the provider must explain what they intend to do, the risks, the alternatives, and the expected benefits, and the patient must agree voluntarily. That standard carries particular weight for irreversible procedures like hysterectomies and tubal ligations.
Federal rules add unusually specific protections when a sterilization is paid for by Medicaid or another federal program. At least 30 days, and no more than 180, must pass between the date the person signs the informed consent form and the date of the procedure.20GovInfo. 42 CFR 441.253 – Sterilization of a Mentally Competent Individual Aged 21 or Older The waiting period drops to 72 hours only for premature delivery or emergency abdominal surgery.
The consent process must explain that sterilization is irreversible, describe alternative birth control methods, and state clearly that the patient may withdraw consent at any time without losing federal benefits.21eCFR. 42 CFR 441.257 – Informed Consent An interpreter must be provided if the patient does not speak the language on the form. Consent cannot be obtained while the patient is in labor, seeking an abortion, or under the influence of alcohol or other substances. These rules trace back to a documented history of coerced sterilizations.
Protection From Violence
The Violence Against Women Act
The Violence Against Women Act, first enacted in 1994 and reauthorized several times since, is the primary federal framework for domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.22U.S. Department of Justice. History of the Office on Violence Against Women VAWA does not create a single federal crime; those offenses stay largely at the state level. It channels federal funding to state programs, trains law enforcement and prosecutors, and builds coordinated community responses. The 2022 reauthorization expanded housing protections for survivors, added anti-retaliation provisions for tenants who report abuse, and created the first federal civil cause of action for non-consensual disclosure of intimate images.
Sexual Assault and Consent
Criminal definitions of sexual assault and rape are set by state law, and they vary widely. Many states have moved away from requiring proof of physical resistance and toward affirmative consent, shifting the legal question from whether the victim said “no” to whether there was a clear “yes.” What counts as valid consent, how intoxication affects it, and how offenses are graded all depend on the state.
Title IX in Schools
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding.23Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 U.S. Code 1681 – Sex Schools must respond to reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence among students, maintain grievance procedures, and take steps to prevent hostile environments. The implementing regulations have changed significantly across administrations.
Female Genital Mutilation
Federal law criminalizes performing female genital mutilation on anyone under eighteen, along with transporting a minor for that purpose. Parents or guardians who consent to or facilitate the procedure also face prosecution, and penalties reach up to ten years in prison.24Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 116 – Female Genital Mutilation Medically necessary surgical procedures performed by licensed practitioners are excepted. Most states have parallel statutes.
Non-Consensual Intimate Images
Most states now have criminal statutes on the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. At the federal level, a provision added in the 2022 VAWA reauthorization created a civil cause of action in federal court. A successful plaintiff can recover actual damages or $150,000 in liquidated damages, plus attorney’s fees, and courts can order the images taken down.25Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 6851 – Civil Action Relating to Disclosure of Intimate Images
Menstrual Products and Breastfeeding
The CARES Act of 2020 added menstrual care products, including tampons, pads, cups, and liners, to the list of qualified medical expenses for health savings accounts and flexible spending arrangements.26Internal Revenue Service. IRS Outlines Changes to Health Care Spending Available Under CARES Act No letter of medical necessity is required.
State sales tax treatment varies. As of early 2026, eighteen states still charge sales tax on menstrual products. The rest either exempt them specifically or have no statewide sales tax. Federal ingredient disclosure on menstrual product packaging is not yet mandatory: the FDA released draft, nonbinding guidance in late 2025 recommending full ingredient disclosure, and the proposed Menstrual Products Right to Know Act, which would require it, has not been enacted.
Every state, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, has a law protecting the right to breastfeed in any public or private place a person is otherwise allowed to be.27WIC Breastfeeding Support. Your Breastfeeding Rights Many of these statutes explicitly clarify that breastfeeding is not indecent exposure, which matters because public decency laws are written broadly enough that a nursing parent could otherwise be accused of violating them. Combined with the PUMP Act’s workplace protections, this is one area where the legal framework has largely caught up with what people actually need.