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Liberty And Privacy In Roe Vs Wade

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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

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