Roe v. Wade, 410
U.S. 113 (1973), is a
landmark decision by the
United States Supreme Court on the issue of
abortion. It was decided simultaneously with a companion case,
Doe v. Bolton. The Court ruled 7–2 that a right to
privacy under the
Due Process Clause of the
14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting women's health and protecting the potentiality of human life.
[1] Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this
balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the third
trimester of pregnancy.
Later, in
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992), the Court rejected
Roe's trimester framework while affirming its central holding that a woman has a right to abortion until
fetal viability.
[2] The
Roe decision defined "viable" as "potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid."
[3] Justices in
Casey acknowledged that viability may occur at 23 or 24 weeks, or sometimes even earlier, in light of medical advances.
[4]
In disallowing many
state and
federal restrictions on
abortion in the United States,
[5][6] Roe v. Wade prompted a
national debate that continues today about issues including whether, and to what extent, abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, what methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional
adjudication, and what the role should be of
religious and
moral views in the political sphere.
Roe v. Wade reshaped national politics, dividing much of the United States into
pro-choice and
pro-life camps, while activating
grassroots movements on both sides.
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Originally Posted by squirl22
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