What is Roe v. Wade?
Roe V. Wade is a historic Supreme Court case that made abortion legal in the United States. The Roe V. Wade decision gave women, with their doctors, to choose abortion in the earlier months of pregnancy without illegal means. The abortion right was based on a right to personal privacy from the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments. In Roe v. Wade the Court said that a fetus is not a person but "potential life," so it does not have constitutional rights of its own. The Court also set up a set of restriction in which the woman's right to abortion and the state's right to protect potential life such as:
During the first trimester of pregnancy, a woman's privacy right is strongest and the state may not regulate abortion for any reason
During the second trimester, the state may regulate abortion only to protect the health of the woman
During the third trimester, the state may regulate or prohibit abortion to promote its interest in the potential life of the fetus, except where abortion is absolutely necessary to preserve the woman's life or health.
During the first trimester of pregnancy, a woman's privacy right is strongest and the state may not regulate abortion for any reason
During the second trimester, the state may regulate abortion only to protect the health of the woman
During the third trimester, the state may regulate or prohibit abortion to promote its interest in the potential life of the fetus, except where abortion is absolutely necessary to preserve the woman's life or health.
Who was involved in the Roe V. Wade case?
The name "Jane Roe" was used for Norma McCorvey, claimed that the abortion law in Texas violated her constitutional rights and the rights of other women. Norma McCorvey discovered that she was pregnant with her third child in September of 1969. Her friends then advised her to falsely claim that she had been raped and therefore obtain a legal abortion because Texas law allowed abortion in these particular circumstances. This method failed because there was no police report. Then, she tried to get an illegal abortion, but the site was closed down. This eventually led to the filing of a court case. She found help from attorneys under the phony name of "Jane Roe". The defendant was the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, Henry B. Wade.
Why is Roe v. Wade so important?
The Supreme Court's decision established that most laws against abortion violate a constitutional right to privacy, and overturned all state laws outlawing abortion. It is one of the most controversial decisions in US Supreme Court history. It returned the right to make medical decisions to the doctor and patient. Roe vs. Wade clearly ruled that the states do not have jurisdiction over the bodily functions of a US citizen, additionally it established that a fetus does NOT have legal status as a citizen and a 'Right to Life'. In terms of the long term consequences it's debatable, the original answer pointed out that there are quite a large number of people that were not born as a result of the law, however if you look at the work of noted Socio-economist Steven Levitt, Roe vs. Wade resulted in a dramatically lower maternal death rate. Accepted, neglected, abused, and unwanted children frequently grow up troubled and commit crimes. Politically, this lack of crime was highly significant in New York city where then Mayor Rudy Giuliani was able to take credit for a dramatic drop in crime rate that really, he had absolutely nothing to do with. The significance of Roe vs Wade was that since the decision, which supported a woman's right to choose abortion, was that the abortion process was being legally supported based on the Constitutional "right to privacy." It ruled that in the United States a fetus's life is not protected for at least the first three months.