Roe v. Wade

The case that I decided to write about is one of the most controversial cases that have ever happened in the United States. The Roe v. Wade (1973) case decided that a woman with her doctor could choose to have an abortion during the early months of that pregnancy. However, if the woman chose to wait until the later months of the pregnancy then they would have certain restrictions based on their right to privacy. This case invalidated all state laws which limited women’s access to abortions during their first trimester of their pregnancy which was based on the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution. The Amendment states that “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people” (Cornell University Law School, 2013).

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 ...

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...etus, and the health of the mother. Furthermore, many of these guidelines have left much room for interpretation and therefore have made more room for debate which is often heated given the passionate feelings that many people in the United States have about the subject of abortion. Now over the past four decades, the subject of abortion and when a life truly begins and whether or not abortion is murder have divided the nation politically, emotionally and spiritually.

Works Cited

Case Briefs. 2013. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S. Ct. 705, 1973. Retrieved on January 10, 2014 from www.lawix.com/cases/roe-wade

Cornell University Law School. 2013. Ninth Amendment. Retrieved on January 10, 2014 from http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt9_user.html

CNN. 2013. Roe v. Wade (1973). Retrieved on January 10, 2014 from

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/us/roe-v-wade/