Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Case

Study Notes

In 1972, Norma McCorvey, a.k.a. Jane Roe, filed a lawsuit claiming that a Texas law criminalizing most abortions violated her constitutional rights.
The Texas law banned all abortions except those necessary to save the life of the mother.
Roe claimed that while her life was not endangered, she could not afford to travel out of state and had a right to terminate her pregnancy in a safe medical environment.
The lawsuit was filed against Henry Wade, Dallas Country District Attorney, in a Texas federal court.
The Texas court ruled that the law violated the Constitution.
Wade appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reviewed the case throughout 1971 and 1972.
In a 7-2 decision written by Justice Harry Blackmun, the Court ruled that the Texas statute violated Jane Roe's constitutional right to privacy.
The Court argued that the Constitution's First, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual's "zone of privacy" against state laws.
The Court then argued that the "zone of privacy" was "broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."
Because abortions lie within a pregnant woman's "zone of privacy," the abortion decision "and its effectuation" are fundamental rights that are protected by the Constitution from regulation by the states.
The Court found that the Texas law was not sufficiently important to pass constitutional muster.
The US Supreme Court ruled that Texas' ban on almost all abortions was unconstitutional because it did not sufficiently protect the health of women.
The Court ruled that state laws regulating abortion might be sufficiently important to be constitutional, depending on the circumstances.

Description

Explore the landmark Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. Learn about the lawsuit, the Court's decision, and its implications for women's reproductive rights.