Opinion of the Court
of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U. S. 356, 365–368 (2001) ("treatment of the disabled"); Glucksberg, 521 U. S. at 728 ("assisted suicide"); San Antonio Independent School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 1, 32–35, 55 (1973) ("financing public education").
A law regulating abortion, like other health and welfare laws, is entitled to a "strong presumption of validity." Heller, 509 U. S., at 319. It must be sustained if there is a rational basis on which the legislature could have thought that it would serve legitimate state interests. Id., at 320; FCC v. Beach Communications, Inc., 508 U. S. 307, 313 (1993); New Orleans, 427 U. S., at 303; Williamson v. Lee Optical of Okla., Inc., 348 U. S. 483, 491 (1955). These legitimate interests include respect for and preservation of prenatal life at all stages of development, Gonzales, 550 U. S., at 157-158; the protection of maternal health and safety; the elimination of particularly gruesome or barbaric medical procedures; the preservation of the integrity of the medical profession; the mitigation of fetal pain; and the prevention of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or disability. See id., at 156–157; Roe, 410 U. S., at 150; cf. Glucksberg, 521 U. S., at 728–731 (identifying similar interests).
B
These legitimate interests justify Mississippi's Gestational Age Act. Except "in a medical emergency or in the case of a severe fetal abnormality," the statute prohibits abortion "if the probable gestational age of the unborn human being has been determined to be greater than fifteen (15) weeks." Miss. Code Ann. §41–41–191(4)(b). The Mississippi Legislature's findings recount the stages of "human prenatal development" and assert the State's interest in "protecting the life of the unborn." Id. §2(b)(i)(2). The legislature also found that abortions performed after fifteen weeks typically use the dilation and evacuation procedure, and the legislature found the use of this procedure "for non-therapeutic or elective reasons [to be] a barbaric practice,
