The second is that if states did criminalize abortion, they would face a backlash as the public focus shifted from the fetus to the woman.

Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr conceded in his argument that this standard would permit states to criminalize abortion.

The state cannot criminalize homosexual conduct in its sodomy law, the court said, and then "create" a family headed by a bisexual.

However, many individual states do criminalize specific BDSM actions within their state borders.

Not until the 1980's did most states criminalize marital rape.

For instance, he renewed a call for the United Nations to require all states to criminalize nuclear arms propagation.

Some states criminalize the placing of a bet, but others, like New York, do not make it a crime to bet online.

Some states also criminalize the separate behavior of falsely claiming to be lawyer (in Texas, for example, this is a felony).

Some states go beyond this, and criminalize mere possession of certain types of knives.