Yahoo Finance What is Roe vs Wade and why is it threatened by abortion case before Supreme Court?
The landmark ruling for US abortion rights, Roe v Wade, is back in the spotlight after the Supreme Court announced it would hear a case involving a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks, potentially igniting a major challenge.
It marks the first major abortion rights challenge in front of the three newest justices, all conservatives appointed by Donald Trump.
The 1973 ruling is considered the first successful litmus test that enshrined a pregnant woman’s right to have an abortion in the US, legalising the procedure across the country and setting a global precedent.
The ruling repealed many federal and state abortion laws that restricted access for women or banned the procedure outright and sparked decades of religious and moral conflict, fought over women’s bodies.
What is Roe v Wade?
The case revolved around Norma McCorvey — known for the purposes of the proceedings as “Jane Roe” — who became pregnant with her third child in Texas in 1969 and wanted to have an abortion, but was unable to access one due to it being banned in her state in all cases but to “save a woman’s life.”
She was taken on by lawyers Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, who filed a lawsuit on her behalf in US federal court against her local district attorney, Henry Wade, alleging that Texas’s abortion laws were unconstitutional.
The US District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled in her favour, which was kicked up to the Supreme Court after Texas appealed.
The Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision in Ms McCorvey’s favour was based partly on the Constitutional “right to privacy”, which the judges found covered a woman’s right to access abortion.
Ms McCorvey, who was unable to access a legal abortion, gave birth before the case was heard and the baby was put up for adoption.
She said at the time that she did it “on behalf of herself and all other women” in the same situation.
The decision also set a legal precedent that affected more than 30 subsequent Supreme Court cases involving restrictions on access to abortion.
Many on the right are committed to overturning Roe v Wade. The most recent addition to the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, brought the conservative balance to six against three. Mr Trump appointed two other conservative judges – Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Is Roe v. Wade constitutional?
Because the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of Roe v. Wade, the law is considered constitutional unless the Supreme Court overturns its ruling.
Joe Biden lashed out at the Supreme Court for refusing to block a Texas law effectively banning all forms of abortion - including in cases of rape and incest - that has pro-choice proponents concerned that Roe v. Wade could be overturned at the federal level.
The Supreme Court was divided on the decision but ultimately ruled to allow the law to stand while it is being litigated in Texas.
Pro-choice proponents fear that the Supreme Court’s refusal to block the law indicates a willingness in the judicial body to consider a full repeal of the law in a future challenge.
What did Roe v. Wade establish?
Roe v. Wade established federal protection for women who wish to have an abortion.
The decision ultimately gave women total autonomy to terminate a pregnancy during the first trimester, and allowed some state influence over abortions in the second and third trimesters.
The court’s opinion in Roe v. Wade established that choosing to have an abortion is ultimately an issue of Americans’ right to privacy, which they ruled was an element of the liberty guaranteed by the US Constitution.
The court determined that banning abortions would infringe on women’s right to privacy, and that being forced to have an unwanted child could “force upon the woman a distressful life and future.”
That right to privacy is not absolute though, and the court established the differences in abortion rights based on trimesters to assure states could maintain medical standards and safeguard health.
Then as now, advocates opposing abortion attempted to argue that life begins at conception. The court disagrees, ultimately saying that the US Constitution’s use of “person” in establishing inalienable rights did not represent fetuses.
Did Roe v. Wade get overturned?
Roe v. Wade has not been overturned.
Some reactions to the court’s refusal to block Texas’ abortion ban have incorrectly claimed that the law was overturned.
Ultimately the argument is one of semantics. Those arguing that Roe v. Wade has been overturned operate from the perspective that if the Supreme Court is unwilling to block Texas’s abortion ban, it is safe to assume the court would take the same action for any other state seeking to ban abortion with similar laws.
However, until those cases reach the court and are ruled upon, Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land.
Further, the court claims its decision not to block the ban is because the law is still being litigated in Texas. Once the law is settled in the state, it is likely it will be challenged, and at that point the Supreme Court will have to decide if it will hear the case.
If the Supreme Court at that point upholds Texas’s law, then Roe v. Wade - while not officially overturned - will only provide protection for women’s rights to abortion until individual states enact their own abortion bans.
The semantic difference will make little difference for women living in states that decide to pursue bans similar to Texas’s. Even if the Supreme Court only refuses to block bans while they are being litigated, it will still mean women in those states will be unable to access abortions for months or years before the laws are settled and challenged.
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