Pavel ČERYCH (393181)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
One of the landmark decisions of US Supreme Court was in the case Roe v. Wade in 1973.
This decision led to ineffectivity of state laws criminalizing abortions due to their
unconstitutionality.
In 1969 21-old single woman named Norma McCorvey (alias Jane Roe) got pregnant. She
wanted an abortion so she travelled to Dallas, Texas and claimed that she was raped (as abortions
were only legal for victims of rape) and wanted to get an abortion. This did not happen as there was
no proof of that rape, no police report or anything. Child was born and eventually adopted but
McCorvey decided to bring an action challenging constitutionality of the Texas abortion laws. Texas
was represented by Dallas DA Henry Wade.
The District court held in the plaintiff's favor and said that the abortion laws are too vague
and infringing plantiff's right based on Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment.
The defendant appealed and in 1973 the case was decided by US Supreme Court, presided
by Chief Justice Burger. The USSC ruled 7-2 that the right of privacy under Fourteenth amendment
gives woman the right to end the pregnancy till certain point (end of the first trimester) for whatever
reason she has. After this point, as the fetus is growing and getting closer to become a human being,
the public interest on his surviving gets stronger and so there is a certain level of state's regulation
permitted. But before the end of the first trimester no state law can ban abortion.