Roe+Vs.+Wade

In 1970, an unmarried, pregnant Texas resident under the pseudonym Jane Roe, filed suit agains the Dallas County district attorney, Henry Wade. Roe was seeking to have an abortion, but under Texas state law, an abortion was a felony unless "on medical advice for purpose of saving the life of the mother." Roe contested the statute on grounds that it violated guarantees of personal liberty and right to privacy implicity stated in the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments. A three-judge federal district court deemed Texas' abortion law unconstitutional, where the case was then directly appealed to the Supreme Court. The court held that a woman's right to have an abortion fell within the right to privacy recognized in the case Griswold v. Connecticut, and with a 7-2 decision ultimately invalidated any state law outlawing first trimester abortions. This ruling affected the laws of 46 states.



We acknowledge our awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires.” //— Justice Blackmun (1973), majority opinion in Roe v. Wade//