The Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, hereafter Union or CWLU, was a feminist union that operated in Chicago, Illinois, from 1969 to 1977 and was the first and largest union, at the time of its operation, focused on women’s issues. The Union organized women with the self-proclaimed collective goal of achieving liberation from sexism and inequality. Within the larger CWLU, smaller groups and chapters formed to address issues such as abortion, rape, child care, and reproductive health, among others. During CWLU’s eight years of operation, the activists circulated petitions, held demonstrations, and visited high schools to raise public awareness of women’s issues. The CWLU created educational opportunities for women in response to apparent sexism in the US and connected them to social groups to further the women’s liberation movement and women’s reproductive health awareness in the United States.

Henry Morgentaler was a physician who performed abortions, acted as a reproductive rights activist, and advocated for legal access to abortions in Canada during the twentieth century. In 1969, he opened his first abortion clinic in Canada and participated in the legal/court case of R v. Morgentaler (1988), which led Canada to decriminalize abortion. Morgentaler helped establish legal access to abortions for women in Canada and advocated for the protection of women's reproductive choices under the law.

In 2013, Lois Uttley, Sheila Reynertson, Larraine Kenny, and Louise Melling published “Miscarriage of Medicine: The Growth of Catholic Hospitals and the Threat to Reproductive Health Care,” in which they analyzed the growth of Catholic hospitals in the United States from 2001 to 2011 and the impact those hospitals had on reproductive health care. In the US, Catholic hospitals are required to abide by the US Catholic Church's Ethical Guidelines for Health Care Providers, also called the Directives. The authors of the article argue that the Directives threaten reproductive health because of their limitations on contraception, sterilization, some infertility treatments, and abortion. The report demonstrated an increase in Catholic hospitals and an associated impact on reproductive health care, which formed the basis for lawsuits the American Civil Liberties Union brought against various Catholic hospitals and health care networks during the early 2000s.

Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3603 (1864), or ARS 13-3603, was a territorial law enacted in 1864 before Arizona was granted statehood that banned abortion in any circumstances except when the mother’s life is at risk. The law remained in place even after Arizona was granted statehood in 1912 and reflected the nineteenth- and twentieth-century legal approach to abortion across the United States. However, the US Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade (1973), hereafter Roe, overturned the statute by establishing a federal constitutional right to abortion, and made ARS 13-3603 unenforceable. The law has since been significant in legal discourse following the federal law Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), hereafter Dobbs, which overturned Roe and allowed state governments to re-enforce pre-existing abortion laws, including ARS 13-3603. By allowing states to reinstate pre-existing abortion restrictions, the Dobbs decision enabled the territorial law ARS 13-3603 to re-enter legal discussions after Dobbs.

Arizona Senate Bill 1164 (2022), or SB 1164, prohibited abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy except when necessary to protect the life or health of the mother. The Arizona Senate and the Arizona House of Representatives passed SB 1164, and then-governor Douglas Ducey signed the bill into law on 30 March 2022. The passage of SB 1164 reinforced the state’s ability to regulate abortions following the US Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) decision, hereafter Dobbs, which overturned the federal law Roe v. Wade (1973), hereafter Roe. Roe had established abortion as a constitutional and federal right and prohibited states from banning abortions before fetal viability. Roe defined fetal viability as the point when the fetus has a chance of surviving outside the womb without extreme medical help. Dobbs returned the regulatory rights to the states. Arizona’s SB 1164 has helped shape the legal framework concerning reproductive rights in the state by prohibiting abortions after fifteen weeks and replaced Arizona’s previous 1864 law titled Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3603, or ARS 13-3603.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, or ACLU of Arizona, is an organization that protects individual liberties through support for legislation, litigation of problematic laws, and public education. Tucson, Arizona, residents Alice Bendheim, Helen Mautner, and Cornelius Steelink established the ACLU of Arizona on 22 June 1959 in Phoenix, Arizona, and Tucson, Arizona. Among other activities, the ACLU of Arizona challenges restrictive abortion laws in Arizona through litigation, advocacy, and public education. The ACLU of Arizona is part of the national ACLU, which advocates for the rights of all people in the United States. Attorneys managed two chapters in Arizona in 1959, with the goals of influencing policy against systemic injustice and protecting the civil rights of all Arizonans. The ACLU of Arizona is one of the largest organizations that advocates against restrictive abortion laws through filing legal motions to safeguard abortion access and supporting initiatives like the Arizona for Abortion Access proposition, to ensure reproductive freedom and uphold the right to access abortion for people in Arizona.