Roe v. Wade 1973 is a controversial lawsuit that led the Supreme Court to make a landmark ruling on abortion rights in the country. It began when Norma McCorvey, an anonymous plaintiff who went by the pseudonym Jane Roe, filed a suit to challenge state and federal laws prohibiting abortion.
What is Roe v Wade, and what happens if the 1973 Supreme Court ruling is overturned? Here’s everything you need to know.
Roe v Wade Summary
In 1969, at the age of 22, McCorvey, who was unmarried and five months pregnant at the time, sought an abortion in Texas. The procedure was banned in the state except when it was deemed necessary to save the mother’s life.
After several unsuccessful attempts to procure an illegal abortion, McCorvey reached out to two newly-graduated lawyers – Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington – to bring a lawsuit on her behalf. She argued that Texas law denied her constitutional right to safe abortion. She further argued that her right to privacy had been violated under the 1st, 4th, 9th, and 14th Amendments.
She adopted the pseudonym Jane Roe in a bid to preserve her anonymity and named Henry Wade as the defendant in her suit. Wade was the Dallas County District Attorney at the time.
A US District Court in Texas ruled in her favor. Texas appealed this decision to the US Supreme Court shortly after the ruling was made.
1973 Supreme Court Landmark Ruling
In a 7-2 majority ruling, the Supreme Court found that Texas had indeed violated McCorvey’s constitutional right to privacy which encompasses, among many things, the right to seek an abortion. The constitution gives individuals specific zones or protected areas of privacy which, according to the bench, includes but is not limited to abortion.
That said, the Supreme Court ruling was not a sweeping decision. It did not legalize abortion in its entirety. It placed certain restrictions defining specific points during pregnancy at which a woman could get an abortion. It came down to whether or not a fetus could survive outside the womb – assisted or otherwise.
The justices found that Texas laws on abortion “sweep too broadly.” Their ruling effectively struck down state laws that banned abortions altogether, both before and after the point of fetal viability.
How Does Roe v Wade Protect Abortion: The Fetal Viability Framework
Fetal viability is a medical term that defines the point at which a fetus can survive outside the mother’s womb. While there’s no universal consensus on this point, most healthcare facilities generally consider it around 23-24 weeks. Some hospitals will actively resuscitate and treat babies delivered at 22 weeks, and some rare cases where babies born at 21 weeks have survived.
When Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion for Roe v Wade in 1973, the definition he gave for fetal viability was the point at which a fetus was capable of meaningful life outside the womb. At the time of this ruling, fetal viability was defined to be at about 28 weeks. Since then, medical advances have expanded it to around 24 weeks.
Trimesters were the central regulating factors in determining fetal viability at the time of Roe v Wade. During the first trimester of pregnancy, there were virtually no regulations allowed. In the second trimester, all regulations at this point were designed to protect the health of the mother. In the third trimester, the regulations were designed to protect the unborn child except in instances where the mother’s life was in jeopardy.
Planned Parenthood v Casey
Between 1988 and 1989, Pennsylvania amended its existing abortion laws, adding several restrictions for certain individuals who wanted to seek an abortion. Among these amendments was the requirement of a 24-hour waiting period and informed consent before someone could get an abortion.
Additionally, if a married woman wanted to get an abortion, she would first have to confirm that her husband was aware of it. A minor seeking an abortion was required to get written consent from at least one parent.
Soon after these changes were effected, abortion providers and healthcare practitioners sued the state, and the case went before the District Court. The court ruled in their favor, stating that the law infringed on the constitutional rights of Pennsylvania residents.
The state appealed this decision, and the case went before an appeals court, which at the time included Justice Samuel Alito. The court approved all the restrictions imposed by the state except for the requirement that married women seeking abortions had to get consent from their husbands beforehand. At the time of that ruling, Alito was the only dissenting judge in the court’s decision.
The case then went to the Supreme Court in 1992, which subsequently upheld the appellate court’s ruling. In its decision, the court stated that abortion rights in the state were still protected but that Casey had changed some aspects of what Roe v Wade had initially determined. Planned Parenthood v Casey scrapped the trimester framework but left the core provisions of Roe v Wade intact.
Abortion Before Roe v Wade
Before Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, the decision on whether to allow or ban abortions was left up to the states. Laws varied widely, with New York having the most liberal abortion policies at the time. Abortions were legal in the state within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.
States like Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington had somewhat similar laws. However, to get an abortion, the individual in question had to be a state resident. Thirteen states in the country had laws that legalized abortion but under very specific circumstances. The rest of the states had a sweeping ban on abortion except for cases where it was necessary to preserve the life of the mother.
Roe v Wade Significance
For many, Roe v Wade is the case that “made abortion legal” in the country. While that may very well be what happened, saying that it legalized abortion isn’t exactly the case. What it did was classify abortion as something that is protected under the constitutional right to privacy and change the way states previously regulated abortion.
What is interesting is that Roe v Wade did not do much to impact the number of abortions performed in the United States every year. According to the findings of a 2003 research, more than 1 million illegal abortions were performed in the country every year before the 1973 landmark ruling.
After Roe, that number still remains at 1 million legal abortions performed annually. However, what did change was the number of deaths resulting from abortions. The mortality rate dropped significantly in the years following the Supreme Court ruling.
Since Roe v Wade, abortion has been legal based on the judicial interpretation of the constitution. However, following the court’s decision, many anti-abortion proponents have continually lobbied for stricter abortion laws. While most of them haven’t been able to ban it outright, they have managed to get some restrictions on abortions.
For instance, several states across the country have limitations placed on abortions in certain circumstances. Some of these include restrictions on what would be considered a late-term abortion, mandatory disclosure of risks involved when getting an abortion, parental notification requirements for minors, and so forth.
The abortion debate is still a heated and controversial topic across the nation. States still pass laws designed to regulate abortion, most of which are often challenged in federal courts. Most of them don’t make it to the Supreme Court.
In light of the recent goings-on, a lingering question on the minds of many is: Will Roe v Wade be overturned?
2022 Supreme Court Draft Opinion Leaked
On May 2, 2022, Politico published what is alleged to be the initial draft majority opinion which appears to be overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has since confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document and has ordered an investigation into how the draft opinion was leaked.
The Supreme Court has historically been leak-proof. Only a handful of individuals – the justices themselves and a few select individuals who work for them – have access to Court decisions before they are published. Those with access usually sign pledges of confidentiality beforehand.
While this is not the first time Supreme Court decisions have leaked, none have been of the apparent magnitude Politico published. For instance, in 1973, Time magazine published the outcome of the court’s decision in Roe v Wade hours before it was made public.
The same thing happened in the late 1970s when Tim O’Brien, a reporter for ABC, published about half a dozen scoops on upcoming rulings before the court delivered them. At the time, it was not clear who was feeding O’Brien with this information, although the Chief Justice at the time, Warren Burger, suspected that it might have been someone in the court’s print shop who had access to the confidential documents.
For now, it is not yet clear who could have leaked the 98-page Justice Alito draft majority opinion or what might have motivated them to do it. Politico only said that it had “received” the document from someone “familiar with the court’s proceedings,” alongside other information that validates its authenticity.
What Happens if Roe v Wade Is Overturned
Nine justices sit on the Supreme Court bench. Six of them are appointees of Republican administrations, making them the conservative majority.
Contents of Justice Alito’s draft majority opinion suggest that the Supreme Court is poised to overrule Roe v Wade 1973, although this could change before it delivers the final ruling. It is unclear whether the leaked document is a solid representation of the justices’ final word on the matter.
If this decision is a predictor of what to expect, it will likely result in sweeping abortion bans in roughly half of the states across the country. This could, in turn, have far-reaching ramifications in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.
The draft opinion states that Roe v Wade was “egregiously wrong” from the beginning. This is in relation to Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that went before the Supreme Court challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortions sought after 15 weeks.
If the court rules in favor of the state, the constitutional right to an abortion will effectively be revoked. Individual states will have the power to decide whether or not to make abortion legal.
What a Future Without Roe v Wade Looks Like
Here’s a brief overview of what the future holds if Roe v. Wade is overturned:
Trigger Laws Would Be Enacted
20+ states across the country already have legislation that could outlaw or restrict abortion once the Supreme Court reverses Roe v Wade 1973. One such law is known as a “trigger law.” It is designed to kick in after the Supreme Court delivers a decision that would overturn an existing law.
Other states still have pre-1973 abortion bans in waiting that have yet to be enforced. Some have laws that express the states’ intent to crack down on abortion if the Supreme Court allows it.
An influx of Patients in the Pro-Abortion States
Soon after Texas enacted its six-week abortion ban, some residents began to seek care out of state. If the Supreme Court ruling overturns Roe, states that have legalized abortion are likely to see a rise in the number of patients from out of state seeking abortion services.
Minority Women Will Bear the Brunt of Abortion Bans
The Associated Press indicates that Black and Hispanic women report higher abortion rates compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Minority women also experience higher rates of poverty and would, therefore, find it harder to travel out of state for an abortion.
Negative Long-Term Health Effects
According to a study by the University of California, San Francisco, denying women the right to get an abortion harms them in the long term. The women who went ahead and had their babies suffered grievous economic hardship that persisted for several years. They were also at a higher risk of developing serious health-related complications and were more likely to raise their child alone.
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