The Impact of Roe V. Wade

The Impact of Roe v. Wade Among the many landmark cases of the United States Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), still is one of the most controversial and politically significant cases in U.S. Supreme Court history, greatly affecting political elections and decisions concerning women’s rights ever since. In 1970, a woman named Norma McCorvey, who had been fired from her for being pregnant; wished to terminate the pregnancy. But in the state of Texas abortions were illegal expect in cases were the health and/or safety of the mother were at risk. Two woman lawyers; Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, who at the time were looking to overturn the restrictions on abortion laws in Texas recruited Ms. McCorvey, and filed suit under the name of Jane Roe, to represent all pregnant women. They “attacked the abortion restrictions of Texas in the federal courts on the grounds that they undermined the rights under the Fourteenth and Ninth Amendment of the U.S Constitution (the due process and specific enumeration of powers clause, the latter of which was taken to uphold a right to privacy),” (Palmowski, 2004). By the time the case had reached the U.S Supreme Court in 1971; Norma McCovery had already had her baby and given it up for adoption, and two new justices filled the vacant seats left behind, one of which was Harry Blackmun, a conservative Republican member with a background in medical law, the case was reheard in 1972. The Supreme Court of the United States decided on January 22, 1973 that states could regulate abortions only in certain circumstances but otherwise women did have a right to privacy and reproductive autonomy, “the court divide the pregnancy of a woman into three stages: 1) first three months, states can not interfere with a woman’s choice to abort the pregnancy; 2) second trimester (3-6 months) states could regulate abortions, but only if such regulation was reasonably related to the mother’s health; 3) third trimester (6-9 months)

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