Liberty and Privacy in Roe v. Wade "Abolition of a women's right to abortion, when and if she wants it, amounts to compulsory maternity: a form of rape by the state"(Abbey). This is probably what Norma ( Roe) Mc. Corvey felt in 1971 in the case Roe vs. Wade when she challenged the integrity of the Constitution about the Texas criminal abortion laws.(705) Roe thought it was her right to have an abortion even though it was not based on medical advice or a risk to her life. The case was against Henry Wade a District Attorney that enforced the Texas law on abortion that violated Texas Penal Codes 191-196 which prohibited abortion except to save a women's life.(Hot Topics – Abortion Rights) The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Roe 7-2 affirming …show more content…
Harry Blackmun wrote his opinion and read it out to the court. He mentioned a previous case Griswold v. Connecticut that had taken place in 1965 , the case had overturned a Connecticut law banning the use of contraceptives among married people. This case was important because it made way for Roe v. Wade in both cases there were similarities they emphasized privacy, control over one’s personal life and freedom from government intrusion. The same right to privacy established in Griswold v. Connecticut was "broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy"( 705) Who determines when life becomes life? Many arguments put forward for when human life begins. To simplify the debate, some claim human life begins at fertilization, while others say that human life begins at implantation.(Savage) Blackmun did not want to consider a fetus as a person under the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment uses the term persons so this would not be applied to the fetus because he did not consider it a person therefore the Fourteenth Amendment did not cover to this situation. He did acknowledge that the right to access an abortion was not unqualified but the state must have an interest in protecting the life of the fetus. The Court in their opinion declined to specify at which point life begins they considered it potential life. Potential life is able to protect a fertilized egg ,embryo or fetus that has “the potential to become a person.”(Fox) The phrase “potential life” does not import a pre-existing meaning from medicine, religion, culture, or philosophy.(Fox) To that question, Blackmun stated only, "When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer."(705) The Texas Abortion law as cited in Roe v. Wade says that abortion is
Wade gives women that right. “In Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the U.S. Constitution protects a woman's right to make her own medical decisions,”(Planned Parenthood). “Out of 70% of people in America do not want to see Roe vs. Wade overturned, because they fill likes it is the woman’s right,”(planned parenthood) That is the highest rate since the case was decided more than 40 years ago. The majority of Americans have supported to safe and legal abortion for decades. Many people simply do not believe that politicians or judges should be making decisions for women about their pregnancies, because a woman has the right to choose what she wants to do with the child she holds.
(Antevil, Jeffrey. Supreme Court rules on Roe vs. Wade in 1973. New York Daily News. print.) So the court analyzed abortion laws and its history from then till now, and with that they found 3 justifications for outlawing abortions: "a Victorian social concern to discourage illicit sexual conduct"; protecting the health of women; and protecting prenatal life.” (McBride, Alex. Roe v. Wade (1973). The Supreme Court. December 2006. Print.) The Court denied the first two as they were pointless but as for the third, the Court disputed that fetal life wasn’t necessarily a "person" as said and guarded in the U.S. Constitution. Culturally, although a few associations view fetuses as human beings that justify full rights, no general agreement exists. The Court than stated that Texas was thus capturing that only one "view" of many individuals. Securing all fetuses beneath this outlook of prenatal life wasn’t amply valuable to explain the state's prevention of roughly all
The ruling of Roe v. Wade included three key ideas. The first key idea was that women had the right to choose to have an abortion during the stage of pregnancy when the fetus had little chance of survival outside the womb and that women were able to obtain an abortion within unreasonable interferences from the state. The second idea confirmed a state’s power to restrict abortions when a fetus could live outside the womb, except in the case when the mother’s life was at risk. The final key idea that was decided in the ruling was that the state has interests in both the health of the women and the life of the fetus (Brannen and Hanes, 2001).
The research that I chose to elaborate my topic on is the Roe v. Wade court case which is about abortion. The case history is about a woman who was single and pregnant; she decided to bring a stimulating challenge suit to the constitution of Texas laws. The laws that Texas made were given to prohibit mothers from aborting children because it was a crime. They could not do it without medical advice for the reason that it was to save the life of the unborn child. As I begin to go into detail about the court case. First Dr. Hallford, a medical doctor who faced criminal prosecution for violating the state abortion law. Second, you have the Does. They are a married couple with no children who were against Jane Roe and her decisions. Lastly, you have District Attorney Wade. Roe and Hallford had a portion of controversies and declaratory that was warranted. The court ruled a decision relief that was not warranted and the Does criticism was not justiciable. This is a brief synopsis of what the court case will expand on later on in the research paper. I will be utilizing reviews to test what male and female dispositions were towards fetus removal and how they feel about it. The study will extremely differ and I will be getting a broad gender preference perspective of the subject that I decided to do the review on. It will all tie once again into the Roe v. Wade court case. As you are perusing my examination paper; the researcher made an investigation on Chowan University
Few Supreme Court decisions have stirred up as much controversy, vitriolic debate, and even violence as the one delivered in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Four decades later, it remains a touchstone for the culture wars in the United States and a pivot upon which much of American politics turns. In fact, the authors of “Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History” state that even today, the case (and its companion cases) “remains the most divisive and controversial judicial decision of the twentieth century” (3). Although it is a landmark case in itself, its continuing influence on American law and politics proves that its legacy lives on far beyond its formal resolution in a court of law. Essentially, the most important points are that the cause of the case’s complexity and drama is the legal relationship between men and women that the ruling mirrored and compounded, the way the medical profession was impacted, and the political significance that the issue still holds presently.
Before the 1973 ruling of the case of Roe v Wade, the estimated average number of illegal abortions every year ranged from 200,000 to 1.5 million. The methods used were violently dangerous including women ingesting toxic substances such as bleach and detergents which often times was ineffective. Women around the country were concerned that the anti-abortion laws conflicted with a person’s right to privacy and equal protection given by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. Gale University’s William Sullivan explains ”The right to abort unborn children is not specifically protected by the Constitution, and prior to 1973, abortion legislation had been understood to be limited to the power of the states per the Tenth
Regardless of the opinions surrounding abortion, a majority of people are familiar with the Supreme court cases of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. These two cases have played a tremendous role in regard to the abortion debate. In 1973, the Roe v. Wade case was ruled in favour of Roe and stated the stringent criminalization of abortion in Texas was deemed unconstitutional under the fourteenth amendment. The law violated the right of privacy, which implied the privacy of a woman’s decision to an abortion. Although the courts agreed with Roe, they also recognized the rights to an abortion are not absolute. Limitations to the right was based on the trimesters of pregnancy with the first trimester protecting the woman’s choice and the third trimester being acceptable for states to regulate or even ban abortions outside of therapeutic reasons.
Jane Roe, a pregnant mother wanting to abort her child sued in the interest of herself, and other women in comparable circumstances during a struggle to stop Texas from criminalizing all abortions except the ones that would save the life of a mother. Texas had made it a crime to receive an abortion except when the doctor advises the mother have an abortion for her own health and safety. Jane Roe wanted a ruling that declared these Texas’ statutes to be unconstitutional and also, she wanted to prevent the District Attorney from enforcing them. Roe alleged that she was pregnant and unmarried. She could not legally obtain an abortion by a licensed doctor because her life was not endangered. So, she argued that the law was unconstitutional and invaded upon her privacy rights that were protected by multiple amendments and laws. Claiming it invaded upon her privacy rights by not allowing her to abort her child.
Blackmun argued that the right to privacy, as defined in the Griswold v. Connecticut decision in 1965, included “the abortion decision.” In the ninth amendment, Blackmun argued, was “broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” However, despite this argument of a woman’s right to end her pregnancy being cover under the “right to privacy” as established in Griswold,
In 1973, the US Supreme Court declared abortion a nationwide fundamental right through a trial called Roe vs. Wade and protected this right underneath the Fourteenth Amendment, more specifically, the right to privacy. A basic human right, especially one outlined by the Supreme Court, must never run at risk or threat chiefly because not everyone agrees with it. Under no circumstances should a pregnancy ever adjudge mandatory. Abortion is a Constitutional right and as a nation we must fight to give the right and freedom of safe abortions to women all around the nation, make birth control and sex education accessible to women, and raise awareness about the topic itself. (LawCornell)
The Griswold v. Connecticut is greatly remarkable and struck controversy in the hearts of many. Thus, in relation to the Griswold v. Connecticut case is yet another controversial case decided seven years later, Roe v. Wade (1973). This case serves as a landmark case involving the issue of privacy under the due process clause, however consisted of moderately different facts compared to the Griswold v. Connecticut case, in that a pregnant woman brought to Court, in the state of Texas, the proscribing dispute to terminate a pregnancy, which under Texas law abortion subsisted as a criminal statute. The rather surprising aspect of this case was the Courts ruled it as constitutional. The Supreme Court ruled, in a 7-2 vote, that the rights of a woman to decide whether or not to become a mother is a right to privacy, which is protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. Individual freedom is crucial in this case in that a mother should have the decision to abort a pregnancy. In the majority opinion, provided by Justice
Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before birth, resulting in, or accompanied by the death of the fetus. ("Abortion," Encarta 98). In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, dramatically changed the legal landscape of American abortion law. The result of the ruling required abortion to be legal for any woman; regardless of her age and for any reason during the first seven months of pregnancy, and for almost any reason after that. ("Status of Abortion in America"). In the Roe v. Wade case, Roe (Norma McCorvey), had claimed she was gang raped and attempted to have an abortion in Texas. ("Roe and Doe"). After hearing the case, the Supreme Court ruled that an American’s right to privacy included the right of a woman whether or not to have children, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without state interference, at least in the first trimester of pregnancy. ("Celebrating 25 Years of Reproductive Choice"). The moral issue of abortion—whether or not it is murder—has been debated since it was legalized in 1973. Roe v. Wade has been one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. ("Roe No More"). More than two decades since the Supreme Court first upheld a woman’s right to abortion, the debate over the morality and legality of induced abortion continues in the United States. ("Abortion," Encarta 98). Abortion is one of the most divisive and emotional issues facing United States policy makers today. ("Economics of
In the arena of family planning abortion policies became another target for women's rights movements. Most states banned or restricted abortions to being only applicable if the mother’s health was at risk .In 1970 Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington took a case on for Norma L. McCorvey ,”Jane Roe”, against a Texas law that legalized most abortions. They stated the Texas law banning all abortions except those necessary to save the life of the mother violated Roe's constitutional rights. Roe claimed her life was not endangered but she wanted to terminate her pregnancy and could not afford to travel out of state to do so.The lawsuit was filed against Henry Wade a Dallas County District Attorney.The case (Roe vs. Wade) in 1973 was eventually
Abortion is not only a woman's right, it is a woman's choice. Allowing abortion to e legal is immoral. A pre-born child is given the status of a product of pregnancy and never seen as the miracle only a woman can create. Compassion for the small one is drowned out under a demand for rights, but what about the rights for the unborn.
To deny a woman the right to terminate her pregnancy is akin to robbing her of any ability to make decisions about her body, her self, and her future. The woman is effectively forced, against her will, to assume an identity and a future that she normally would have avoided. This type of coersion can permanently damage a persons emotional and psychological health. The one thing that makes each of us an individual is our decision making freedom and powers regarding our own future and actions. But when we are robbed of our ability to make our own decisions about our future, our self, and our identity, then we are robbed of our most essential and valuable treasure…our self. If a woman wishes to obtain an early term abortion…to terminate a pregnancy…then she must be allowed to choose this option. If she id denied an abortion, then both her and the future child will suffer tremendously. Please stop viewing abortion as something that you should have sole control over. A person’s body is their own, not yours. It is threatening and invasive when others attempt to direct the lives of their peers. Rather supporting the tyrannical idea of forced childbirth, perhaps you ought to consider the more moderate concept that all people should be able to choose the future of their bodies and reproductive functions. I advocate neither abortion nor