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The Death Of Roe V. Wade

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Justin Cao
English 1102
Professor Dolloff
March 2, 2016 Dying to Live In 1973, Roe v. Wade ruled a state law that banned abortions, except in the cases of risking the life of the mother, unconstitutional (Garrow 833). The Court ruled that states were forbidden from regulating or outlawing abortion performed during the first trimester of a woman’s pregnancy, could pass abortion regulations if they were related to the health of the mother in the second and third trimesters, and pass abortion laws protecting the life of the fetus in the third trimester (Paltrow 18). However, the primary concern would remain to be the mother’s health, regardless. Roe v. Wade, controversial since it was decided, divided America and continues to spark debates, …show more content…

Roe claimed that although her life was not at risk, she simply could not afford to travel out of state in order to have an abortion and had a right to an abortion in a safe medical environment. Roe’s lawsuit was filed in a Texas federal court against Henry Wade, the District Attorney of Dallas County. The court ruled that the law did indeed breach the Constitution. Wade appealed to the United State’s Supreme Court, which reviewed the case for about a year during 1971 and 1972. In a seven to two decision written by Justice Harry Blackmun, who was chosen because of prior experience as counsel of a nonprofit medical research group and practice called the Mayo Clinic, the Supreme Court ruled that the Texas law violated Roe 's right to privacy (White 32). The Court contended that the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual 's privacy, otherwise known as a “zone of privacy”, against state laws and referenced past cases which ruled contraception, marriage, and even child rearing as activities covered in a "zone of privacy” (Paltrow 17). The Court then proceeded to argue that this zone of privacy was "broad enough to encompass a woman 's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy” (Paltrow 17). This decision was influenced by and addresses the innumerable psychological, physical, and economic stresses a pregnant woman faces. Since abortions are within a woman 's "zone of privacy," the decision to abort

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