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Summary. At a time when Texas law restricted abortions except to save the life of the mother, Jane Roe (a single, pregnant woman) sued Henry Wade, the local district attorney tasked with enforcing the abortion statute. She argued that the Texas law was unconstitutional.
Jan 22, 2012 · WadeNo. 70-18Argued December 13, 1971Reargued October 11, 1972Decided January 22, 1973 410 U.S. 113 MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN delivered the opinion of the Court. This Texas federal appeal and its Georgia companion, Doe v. Bolton, post, p. 179, present constitutional challenges to state criminal abortion legislation.
Roe v. Wade. Roemer v. Board of Public Works of Maryland. Sloan v. Lemon. Harry A. Blackmun (born Nov. 12, 1908, Nashville, Ill., U.S.—died March 4, 1999, Arlington, Va.) was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1970 to 1994. Blackmun graduated in mathematics from Harvard University in 1929 and received his law degree ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Abortion Before Roe v. Wade
- Jane Roe
- Henry Wade
- Supreme Court Ruling
- Legacy of Roe v. Wade
- Roe v. Wade Overturned
- Sources
Until the late 19th century, abortion was legal in the United States before “quickening,” the point at which a woman could first feel movements of the fetus, typically around the fourth month of pregnancy. Some of the early regulations related to abortion were enacted in the 1820s and 1830s and dealt with the sale of dangerous drugs that women used...
In 1969, Norma McCorvey, a Texaswoman in her early 20s, sought to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. McCorvey, who had grown up in difficult, impoverished circumstances, previously had given birth twice and given up both children for adoption. At the time of McCorvey’s pregnancy in 1969 abortion was legal in Texas—but only for the purpose of saving a...
In 1970, the attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of McCorvey and all the other women “who were or might become pregnant and want to consider all options,” against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, where McCorvey lived. Earlier, in 1964, Wade was in the national spotlight when he prosecuted Jack Ruby, who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, ...
In June 1970, a Texas district court ruled that the state’s abortion ban was illegal because it violated a constitutional right to privacy. Afterward, Wade declared he’d continue to prosecute doctors who performed abortions. The case eventually was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, McCovey gave birth and put the child up for adoption. ...
Norma McCorvey maintained a low profile following the court’s decision, but in the 1980s she was active in the abortion rights movement. However, in the mid-1990s, after becoming friends with the head of an anti-abortion group and converting to Catholicism, she turned into a vocal opponent of the procedure. Since Roe v. Wade, many states imposed re...
In 2022, the nation's highest court deliberated on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which regarded the constitutionality of a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Lower courts had ruled the law was unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. Under Roe, states had been prohibited from banning abortions before arou...
Abortion in American History. The Atlantic. High Court Rules Abortion Legal in First 3 Months. The New York Times. Norma McCorvey. The Washington Post. Sarah Weddington. Time. When Abortion Was a Crime, Leslie J. Reagan. University of California Press.
In 1970, Jane Roe (a fictional name used in court documents to protect the plaintiff’s identity) filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, where she resided, challenging a Texas law making abortion illegal except by a doctor’s orders to save a woman’s life. In her lawsuit, Roe alleged that the ...
6 days ago · Roe v. Wade, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, 1973, ruled (7–2) that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion is unconstitutional. In a majority opinion written by Justice Harry A. Blackmun, the Court held that a set of Texas statutes criminalizing abortion in most instances violated a constitutional right to privacy, which it found to be implicit in the ...
Sep 23, 2021 · A timeline leading to Roe v. Wade. 01:36 - Source: CNN. CNN —. The Supreme Court ’s landmark decisions guaranteeing a constitutional right to abortion emerged only after surprise votes and ...
