The historic case of Roe v. Wade was a pivotal case that changed the way the court system viewed a woman’s reproductive rights. To this day the topic of abortion has people torn between the legal rights of the woman and her right to choose what to do with her own body. This side is known as the pro- choice side. The other side of the debate wants to protect the moral rights of the fetus stating that the unborn child must have rights as well. The hard thing to do was to determine for some is when the life of the fetus can be considered a living person with rights. The state of Texas that was arguing on the rights for the fetus also known as the pro-life side. The state believed that the unborn child should have rights to life. For this reason …show more content…
The woman at the center of the case named in court documents as Jane Roe grew up as Norma McCorvey. Norma had been a victim of childhood abuse and in order to escape the abuse at home she dropped out of school in ninth grade to marry a man who would turn out to physically and emotionally abuse her as well. After having left her husband and struggling to make ends meet Norma found herself pregnant. At the time Texas state law prohibited the termination of a pregnancy by artificial means, except when the life of the mother was put in danger, rape, or incest has occurred. Roe claimed that she had been raped and wanted an abortion but since there was never any evidence that a rape had ever happened Roe could not procure an abortion. Roe consulted with an attorney named Sarah Weddington and found the statues were unconstitutional because they infringed on her right to personal privacy, protected by the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments. At this time Roe decided to take federal action against the District Attorney Henry Wade of Dallas County, Texas on her behalf and all other women in similar situations. Roe decided to go ahead with the case even though it would not help her pregnancy situation. Roe would later on give birth to the baby and put it up for …show more content…
The cases presented the situations of the pregnant single woman, the childless couple, and the practicing physician. They determined that Roe and Hallford had just cause to sue because they presented justiciable controversies. The Doe’s had failed to allege facts sufficient to state a present controversy, thus they had no standing for a case. It was decided that with respect to the respect to the requests for a declaratory judgment, abstention was not warranted. The court found that the fundamental rights of single women and married persons to choose whether to have children is protected under the ninth amendment, through the fourteenth amendment. They also found that the Texas abortion statutes are void as vagueness and for overbroadly infringing the ninth and fourteenth amendment rights of the plaintiffs. The district court ruled in Roe’s favor on the legal merits of her case, but declined to grant an injunction against the enforcement of the laws barring
Her family moved around a lot as she grew up in a military family. McCorvey was rebellious and did not do well in school. Her parents got a divorce when she was young and she had to live with her mom whom she did not like. She became a high school dropout by the time she was a sophomore. Norma Nelson McCorvey a.k.a Jane Roe was just twenty-one years old and she had already been married and divorced. She was pregnant with her third child. McCorvey gave up custody of her first child to her mother and she gave up custody of her second child to the father. She wanted to get an abortion, but at that time it was illegal in the state of Texas. She could not afford, nor did she have the means to travel to other states where was legal. She did not have the money to pay for it anyway. Her only other option that remained was adoption. Her doctor referred her to an adoption lawyer Henry McCluskey. McCluskey ended up introducing McCorvey to Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington. Coffee filed suit against Henry Wade who was the district attorney of Dallas County. (Cushman
The laws surrounding Abortion, particularly the efforts to ban abortion and overturn Roe Vs. Wade are one of the most significant social problems we are facing in 2017. Roe v. wade is a landmark decision that was made by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion back in 1973. Abortion has been a prevalent social problem throughout history and continues to be very much a part of the social and political debate today. In fact, abortion has been one of the biggest controversies of all time. Both sides of the argument, pro-choice and pro-life, have many valid points to back their opinion and that is partly why this continues to be such a big debate. The other part is that it is very much a political issue. I stand firmly on the
because the right to abort, whatever one thinks of it, is not found in the
Abortion has been a subject of controversy over the past century. Eventually the decision was settled in favor of pro-choice, in the Supreme Court case Roe versus Wade. At 10:00 a.m. on January 22,1973, the United States Supreme Court announced that the Texas abortion law was unconstitutional. The Court also declared the Georgia abortion law unacceptable. The vote was seven to two, with Burger, Blackmun, Powell, Stewart, Brennan, Douglas, and Marshall in the majority. Rehnquist and White opposed the decision. Abortion throughout the nation had been declared legal. Abortion laws in thirty-one states, including Texas, were overturned. Fifteen states, including Georgia, would have to rewrite their more liberal laws. Three other states, Hawaii, Washington, and Alaska-where rigid abortion laws had been repealed-had residency requirements or other limits that would have to be eliminated. Only the New York law, which allowed abortion without restrictions, was unaffected by the decision (Gold69).
No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.
In 1973, in what has become a landmark ruling for women’s rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a woman’s right to an abortion. Ever since, individual states have adopted, altered, and/or mutilated the edict to fit their agendas – Texas included. However, the decision made by the justices in Roe v. Wade didn’t set clear cut, inarguable demarcation lines, which has allowed the fiery debate to consume the nation. Rather than establishing a legal ruling of what life is, or is not, the Supreme Court has remained silent on the issue.
The facts of this case show that Roe, who at the time was a single woman, decided to challenge the State of Texas’s abortions laws. The law in that state stated that it was a felony to obtain or attempt an abortion except on medical advice to save the life of the mother (Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S. Ct. 705, 1973). At the time many illegal abortions were being performed in back alleys and in very unsanitary conditions. Therefore, some states began to loosen up on abortion restrictions, in which some women found it easy to travel to another state where the abortion laws were less restrictive and they could find a doctor was willing to endorse the medical requirement for an abortion. Unfortunately, less fortunate or poor women could seldom travel outside their own state to get the treatment, which started to raise questions of fairness. Also, many of the laws were vague; therefore many doctors really didn’t know whether they were committing ...
In 1970, Norma McCorvey, a single and pregnant woman in Texas wanted to get an abortion. The state laws of Texas at that time stated that it was illegal to have an abortion in Texas. Even though the state told her that she could go to one of the four states in which abortion was legal to have the procedure done, she decided that she could not afford to travel to another state to receive the procedure. Norma McCorvey decided that she would sue the state of Texas, claiming that her constitutional rights were being taken from her. She then changed her name to the pseudonym “Jane Roe” to protect her right of privacy. The district court found that Roe did have grounds to file the suit against the state of Texas. They ruled on the grounds that the abortion laws in Texas infringed on the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments of the constitution. The first amendment states that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Amend.html). The fourth amendment states that, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized”
Abortion cannot be discussed unless you know the origin of the debate. In December 13, 1971, the argument of abortion surfaced (“Roe v. wade,”). The class action suit was brought by a pregnant single woman who challenged the constitutionality of the Texas criminal abortion laws, which proscribe or attempting an abortion except on medical advice for the purpose of saving the mother’s life (“Roe v. wade,”). Proceeding Roe v. Wade, abortion was illegal in almost every State. In 1973, the courts ruled and abortion became legal again.
The Roe v. Wade case originated in the state of Texas in 1970 at the suggestion of Sarah Weddington an Austin attorney. Norma McCorvey otherwise known as "Jane Roe" was an unmarried pregnant woman seeking to overturn the anti-abortion law in the state of Texas. The lawsuit claimed that the statue was unconstitutionally vague and abridged privacy rights of pregnant women guaranteed by the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments to the constitution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade)
The right to privacy is nowhere listed in the Bill of Rights, however the First Congress that established the Constitution intended for the concept of right to privacy to be implemented or derived in some way. The Supreme Court decision made due to the case of Roe v. Wade has been called both radical and temperate (Edwards III, Wattenberg, and Lineberry 131). It was first argued in December 13, 1971 by a Texas woman named Norma McCorvey. “A three-judge District Court, which consolidated the actions, held that Roe and Hallford, and members of their classes, had standing to sue and presented justiciable controversies” (Thomas Reuters Business). The case was later appealed by Jane Roe and was sent to the Supreme Court to be tried again. She went by the pseudonym “Jane Roe” in order to keep herself confidential to the public. Jane Roe wanted to terminate her pregnancy by abortion but was prohibited by Texas state law stating that abortion was illegal unless it was required to say the woman’s life which wasn...
The Roe vs. Wade decision held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy. It invalidated all state laws limiting women's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy based on the Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a part of the Bill of Rights. The Court's decision in this case was that the Ninth Amendment, "the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people," protected a person's right to privacy.
Before abortions became legal, women felt the need to turn to someone for an abortion that was not sanitary or performed the correct way, many either died or left extremely ill. One specific woman felt the need to bring to everyone’s attention, that she should have the right to abort her baby if she wanted to. She fought for her right and many stood behind her and supported her. The case Roe v. Wade legalized abortions in 1973. Norma McCorvey, known as Jane Roe, fought for women’s rights against the state of Texas on two different occasions. Roe v. Wade made a huge impact to women around the country, by legalizing safe and reliable abortions.
...t the court left for states to ban late-term abortions. Many feel that a fetus near the end of a pregnancy is simply too like a human to come up with any justification for killing it, unless the pregnancy threatens the health of the mother. The line on the spectrum that the court ended up defining was based on when the fetus becomes viable. Before this point, the fetus is entirely dependent on the mother and the court left the mother with the ability to withdraw her support from the fetus. After the point of viability, society as a whole is then able to assist in taking care of the infant. This then, is where the fetus gains the added requirement to its right to life discussed earlier.
.... The Roe v. Wade case basically said that a woman could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy. All state laws limiting women's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy were invalidated by Roe v. Wade. This case alone supports the pro-choice argument.