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Roe Vs Wade Case Study

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ROE v. WADE Supreme Court of the United States, 5th Circuit, 1983. 410 U.S. 113. FACTS The prosecution, Jane Roe, a pregnant single women brought a class action lawsuit in an effort to challenge the laws in Texas surrounding abortion and their constitutionality. Texas laws made it illegal to have an abortion without the medical direction of a medical professional, in which case it would be for the health and well-being of the pregnant mother. The respondents made up of Dr. Hallford who was criminally charged with for violating Texas abortion laws; and a married couple with no children, the Does, who sought to fight the enforcement of Texas abortion laws by the government for being unconstitutional. The defendant was Henry Wade, the county District …show more content…

REASON The court held that it is the primary responsibility of the pregnant women’s physician to determine the termination of pregnancy during the first trimester. During the second trimester, the State is allowed to intervene in the termination of an unborn fetus with legitimate interest in the pregnant women’s health. The State would intervene by regulating the procedures surrounding the women’s health. In the third trimester, the State may regulate the procedures surrounding the women’s health and even prohibiting the abortion altogether, keeping the pregnant women’s health a top priority. The Supreme Court of the United States held that the lawsuit regarding pregnancy, is an exception to the general rule that a difference must occur during each stage of the judicial review, and not only when the action is proposed. The Does complaint searching for injunctive relief was solely based on the contingencies which might or might not have occurred. It was irrelevant for the Court to decide Dr. Hallford’s case for injunctive relief, because once the Supreme Court found the laws unconstitutional, the Texas Government were not allowed to enforce them. The dissenting opinion of Justice Rehnquist was that the right to an abortion is not widely accepted by everyone, and that the right to privacy on the matter of abortion is not constitutionally involved in this case. In addition, Justice White made his dissenting opinion based on the constitutional foundations surrounding Jane Roe and the Does, stating: "In every other case, there was something in the Constitution you could point to for support. There, nothing.” Justice White would later conclude that he would return the issue back

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