Roe V. Wade

Roe v. Wade

Facts: Texas and most of the states in 1973 had abortion law that made it a felony for anyone to destroy a fetus. This Texas law was challenged on grounds that it denied equal protection, due process, and the mothers right of privacy.

Issue: Does the Constitution give a pregnant women right to terminate her pregnancy?

Holding: Yes

Reasoning: The Constitution does not clearly mention any right of privacy, however, some roots about this issue are found in the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, in Bill of Rights, as well as in Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments. Therefore, the right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action or in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.

Issue: Does the pregnant women have a right to terminate her pregnancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses?

Holding: No

Reasoning: The privacy right cannot be absolute and unlimited. For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician. This is so because of the medical fact that until the end of the first trimester mortality in abortion is less than mortality in normal childbirth.

Issue: Can a State regulate the abortion procedure?

Holding: Yes

Reasoning: In the end of the first trimester, the State, in promoting its interest in health of the mother, may regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related