Women Empowerment: The Roe V. Wade Case

A women’s right to personally decide what she wants done to her body in any medical situation has been something they have fought for many years. On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court set a precedent that gave women that right. Along with this right to decide came the legalization of medical abortions. This is a subject that affects all American citizens nowadays, both men and women, because of the recent protests such as the Women’s March on Washington. As citizens of the United States, men and women alike, we know the historical past of what women have fought for and what rights they have been given due to that fight. If Roe v. Wade, the case that gave women the right to make their own personal medical decisions, were overturned, what

With almost half the nation divided among their views, abortion remains one of the most controversial topics in our society. Since Roe v. Wade, our views in society as well as following court cases have been progressing toward the woman’s right to choose. The precedent set by Roe v. Wade made the Supreme Court acknowledge that it cannot rule specifically when life begins and it also affirms that it is the woman’s right to have an abortion under the 14th Amendment. In the 1st Amendment, the Establishment Clause forbids the government from passing laws “which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another”. Many Christian pro-lifers use their religious beliefs to dispute when life begins. Although through the Free Exercise

Women’s rights have been a long struggle in America’s legal system, as well as in the religious world, for many decades and women continue to have challenges, concerns, and struggles today. Fighting for what is best for their bodies such as a woman’s right to contraceptives to control whether she will get pregnant or not was not ideal for religious and personal reasons but would find a worthy advocate in a woman who would dedicate her life for women’s reproductive rights. The right for a woman to have an abortion became a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Courts in a very well-known case.

Roe v. Wade is the most well known case on abortion and was originally located in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, but later became a Supreme Court case. Roe’s real name was Norma Leah McCorvey, but she used a pseudonym used to protect her privacy. She wanted to terminate her pregnancy by abortion- which was illegal according to Texas law. A criminal abortion statute was first enacted in Texas in 1854, with the exception of abortion by medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother. She was a single woman in Dallas, Texas and began fighting this action in 1970 against the district attorney of the county. She claimed that her pregnancy was the result of rape in order to strengthen her case, but later publicly admitted that this was a lie. She said that the Texas criminal abortion statutes were unconstitutional, that she was unmarried and pregnant and that she wished to terminate her pregnancy. She also said that her life was not in danger because of the pregnancy, but that she could not afford to travel to another jurisdiction in order to receive a legal abortion under safe

This is the key Supreme Court ruling I have selected to analyze. The law being challenged was about the decision by women to have abortion without the interference from politicians. The case was held on January 22, 1973 by the Supreme Court where it handed down its landmark decision in the case of Roe v. Wade. The court recognized the constitutional rights to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decision. The government entity that was part of the case was the politicians (Joyce, 2013). The politicians were against the process of legalizing abortion. They fought the process through pushing bills in Congress to ban it. They were against Roe’s plans of being handed a free access to abortion. Norma McCorvey was the petitioner in the case of Roe v. Wade. She claimed to have been raped and subsequently become pregnant. She visited her doctor who then refused performing abortion she requested for. Texas law made abortion illegal except if it was necessary to save a mother’s life. The argument of McCorvey was that the Texas statute infringed on a woman’s fundamental personal right to privacy of abortion. McCovey under the pseudonym of Jane Roe additionally claimed Texas law is not rationally legitimate to private sexual conduct and human life.

The Right to Abortion On January 22, 1973, in a 7-2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down it’s landmark decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, which recognized that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions — including the decision to have an abortion without interference from politicians (Planned Parenthood). There are many moments in history when Roe v. Wade has been so close to being overturned, yet it is still in place. Abortion should stay legal, or not overturned, for the health of women everywhere. First, this important case took place at the time of abortion being illegal in most states, including Texas, where Roe v. Wade began.

The Roe v. Wade case decision has been very controversial even today when it comes to abortion. This case argued that abortion should be legal and that women should have the right to decide such important decision. Roe v. Wade divided the nation during the 1970s like no other case has before.

The topic of abortion is one of the most controversial issues in today's society. According to Planned Parenthood, "Abortion is the termination or expulsion of pregnancy before birth" (Planned Parenthood). Thousands of abortions happen every day, and yet the public opinion remains at a stalemate to determine whether or not an abortion is ethical. According to a poll created in 2013, fifty-four percent of Americans believe that the practice of abortion should be legal in all or most cases. (“Public Opinion on Abortion") Throughout life, there have been strong opinions coming from people who are considered to be pro-life or pro-choice. The person's perspective of the issue determines how he or she sees the fetus: as an individual human being

After Roe v. Wade in 1973 people became more aware of abortions in a general term. At the time only therapeutic abortions were allowed, but after Roe v. Wade elective abortions were no longer against the law. Although elective abortions were now legal there were still certain restrictions. The biggest restriction was what time frame a woman could have an abortion. This time frame was determined using the stages of pregnancy based on religion and science. The right to privacy was another issue brought up in Roe v. Wade, it was determined that women have a right to privacy when it comes to abortion. Religion has played a big role on abortion. Jewish law as always considered an unborn child a fetus until after birth; therefore the fetus had no

“On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Roe v. Wade, a challenge to a Texas statute that made it a crime to perform an abortion unless a woman’s life was at stake. The case had been filed by “Jane Roe,” an unmarried woman who wanted to safely and legally end her pregnancy. Siding with Roe, the court struck down the Texas law. In its ruling, the court recognized for the first time that the constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy” (Roe v. Wade, 1973).

There have been many legal cases dealing with abortion and the laws restricting it. Some of those cases are: Gonzalez v. Carhart and Whole Woman’s Health Care, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and Roe v. Wade.

The Current Court There are currently only eight members due to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February of 2016. The eight members are as followed: Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., Justice Elena Kagan Roe V. Wade Do abortion laws that criminalize all abortions, except those required on medical advice to save the life of the mother, violate the Constitution of the United States? To answer this question, we will take a look back on History before abortion was legal. An 1859 American Medical Association committee investigating abortion stated in its conclusion that one reason for..." the frightful extent of abortion in the US is found in the grave defects of our laws, both common and statue, as regards the independence and actual

Roe vs. Wade is the highly publicized Supreme Court ruling that overturned a Texas interpretation of abortion law and made abortion legal in the United States. The Roe v. Wade decision held that a woman, with her doctor, has the right to choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy. As a result, all state laws that limited women 's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy were invalidated by this particular case. State laws limiting such access during the second trimester were upheld only when the restrictions were for the purpose of protecting the health of the pregnant woman. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the greater United States, which was not legal at all in many states and was limited by law in others. Prior to the case it was the state that determined the legality of abortions.

Abortion is a huge argument in the world today. “In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court held in Roe V.Wade that the right of privacy protects women’s decisions to end unwanted pregnancy before the fetus develops.” By 2013, 70 restrictions to curb the practice of abortion from 22 states. (Funk & Wagnalls pg.1). In 2014, five health votes were examined by the House of Representatives regarding the matter of abortion.

The Supreme Court case struck down the Massachusetts law that claimed that only married couples could obtain contraceptives that registered doctors or pharmacists provided. The Court stated that the law did not satisfy the rational basis test offered by the 14th Amendment. Perhaps one of the most widely known and controversial Supreme Court cases regarding contraceptives, Roe v. Wade still gains attention in legal debates today. The Supreme Court stated that by banning a woman’s right to an abortion, Texas violated her constitutional rights. Women hold the right to an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy under their 14th Amendment rights.