Roe V. Wade Abortion Case Study

The case I will be debriefing is Roe v. Wade and the topic of discussion is Abortion. The case made news on December 13, 1971. Jane Roe, a Texas native wanted to have an abortion, however Texas Law did not prohibit abortions, only in the case to save the life of a woman during pregnancy. Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County from (1951 to 1987) enforced the law that prohibited abortion. However, Texas law had been declared unconstitutional in an earlier federal district court case United States v. Vuitch, in 1971. The case was brought before the Supreme court twice, the first was December 13, 1971 and the second is October 11, 1972. Henry Wade’s argument was that The State has a duty to protect prenatal life. Life is present now …show more content…
It is improper for a State to deny individuals the personal, marital, familial, and sexual right to privacy. Moreover, in no case in its history has the Court declared that a fetus—a developing infant in the womb—is a person. Therefore, the fetus cannot be said to have any legal "right to life." Because it is unduly intrusive, the Texas law is unconstitutional and should be overturned. By a vote of 7–2, with Justices White and Rehnquist in dissent, the Court agreed with Roe and upheld her right to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester (90 days). The Court observed that Section 1 of the 14th Amendment contained three references to “person”. Blackmun's opinion carefully steered between the right to privacy and the question of compelling State interest. On the first point, he wrote, most of the justices "do not agree" with Texas that the State "may override the rights of the pregnant woman that are at stake." On the other hand, the State does have an "important and legitimate interest in protecting the potentiality of human life" and in protecting the mother's health. Blackmun's decision revolved around the development of the fetus during