Roe v. Wade, case decided in 1973 by
the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with Doe v.
Bolton, this decision legalized abortion in the first trimester of
pregnancy. The decision, written by Justice Harry Blackmun and based on the
residual right of privacy, struck down dozens of state antiabortion
statutes. The decision was based on two cases, that of an unmarried woman
from Texas, where abortion was illegal unless the mother's life was at risk,
and that of a poor, married mother of three from Georgia, where state law
required permission for an abortion from a panel of doctors and hospital
officials. While establishing the right to an abortion, this decision gave
states the right to intervene in the second and third trimesters of
pregnancy to protect the woman and the “potential” life of the
unborn child. Denounced by the National Council of Bishops, the decision
gave rise to a vocal antiabortion movement that put pressure on the courts
and created an anti-Roe litmus test for the judicial appointments of the
Reagan and Bush administrations (1981–93). In a 1989 case,
Webster v. Reproductive Health
Services, the court, while not striking down Roe, limited its
scope, permitting states greater latitude in regulating and restricting
abortions. Then in 1992, in Planned Parenthood v.
Casey, the court reaffirmed the abortion rights granted
in Roe v. Wade, while permitting further
restrictions. In an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, deciding
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health
Organization (June, 2022), a case over a Mississippi law that
sought to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, the court expressly
overtuned Roe v. Wade, returning the issue
to the states.
See N. McCorvey with A. Meisler, I Am Roe (1994); N. E. H. Hull and P. C. Hoffer, Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History (2001, rev. ed. 2010).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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