Roe v. Wade
Bre Eskridge
Just the basics
Precedent
Supreme Court ruled that a fetus was not a "person" possessing constitutional rights until it reached viability (the advanced stage of pregnancy when it could live outside the womb). The courts allowed state governments to regulate or prohibit abortions of fetuses that had reached viability, but banned such regulations on abortions in the first trimester
Specifically
- During the first three months of pregnancy, a woman and her physician may jointly decide to terminate a pregnancy. No significant state interference is allowed.
- Later in pregnancy, states can restrict abortion access with laws but only if they are intended to protect the woman's health.
- Once the fetus is viable, an abortion must still be available if the woman's health or life are at risk. State governments are free to pass legislation that will allow or prohibit late-term abortions.
How judicial review shaped womens civil liberties
Pro-life
Protest happened for both sides
Health centers
Significance and Impact
Roe v. Wade, controversial when released in January 1973, remains one of the most intensely debated Supreme Court decision today. In no other case has the Court entertained so many disputes around ethics, religion, and biology, and then so definitively ruled on them all. To the political Right, critics accuse the Court in Roe of legalizing the murder of human life with flimsy constitutional justifications. To the Left, critics maintain that Roe was poorly reasoned and caused an unnecessary political backlash against abortion rights. Defenders of the decision, however, argue that Roe v. Wade was a disinterested, pragmatic ( dealing with the problems that exist in a specific situation in a reasonable and logical way instead of depending on ideas and theories) , and ultimately principled decision defending the most basic rights of personal liberty and privacy.