Roe V. Wade: The Pros And Cons Of Abortion

Roe V. Wade is known as the case that went to Supreme Court and eventually got abortion legalized. An abortion is defined as the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end or terminate a pregnancy. Thousands of years ago abortion was accepted. In ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt herbs were used to induce the labor prematurely. (The American Bar Association 210) Similar methods are still used today. There are many countries where abortion is illegal. In these places the option is herbal abortions. These are less effective but sometimes it is the only option for women who need to end their pregnancies. Although the method is natural it is probably the most ineffective. Women who undergo this natural method also can

Natural abortion methods cause a natural release of early pregnancy tissue from the wall of the uterus. For years this continued, the procedure evolved and having an abortion was legal and socially accepted. Back in those days a fetus was normally aborted before “quickening” which is before the mother would feel any movement of the fetus. This was usually in the second trimester of a pregnancy during the fourth or fifth month. (The American Bar Association 211)
During the nineteenth century laws and public opinion started to change. In 1803, there was the first English Act outlawing abortions. In cases where there was an abortion performed after the quickening, the penalty was death. If the procedure was done before the quickening then the punishment was fourteen years of imprisonment. By 1860 abortions were prohibited in almost all of the states.

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