Nathan Watson

Roe v. Wade (1972)

Background

Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe, becomes pregnant in June of 1969. Since Texas laws
allowed abortion for victims of rape and incest, she sought in abortion in Texas claiming she
was raped. There was no police report, so she then attempted to obtain an illegal abortion.
This failed as well and she took on the help of attorney Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington

District Court Case

Coffee and Weddington file suit in the Distict Court in Texas. District Attorney Henry Wade
represents Teas. Mccorvey/Roe admits that she lied about being raped. The district court
rules in favor of McCorvey based on the Ninth Amendment with reference to the opinion of
Justice Goldberg in Griswold v. Connecticut on the right to contraceptives.

Supreme Court

Roe v Wade reaches the Supreme Court on appeal. Justice Harry Blackmun emphasizes that
Texas law on the issue is vague. Robert C Flowers replaces Henry Wade. The decision: 7 to 2
in favor of McCorvey/Roe. The Supreme Court said that abortion was a fundamental right
protected by the United States Constituion. The Supreme Court failed to justify their decision
based on the Ninth Amendment stating basically that it had little bearing on the issue. Rather
its decision was based almost entirely on the due process clause.

Significance

Traditionally understood, this case was moot since Jane Roe was already past the point of
being able to abort her baby. She also was not allowed to represent the rights of other
women. Also, since she did not put fourth a grievance and demand for relief, the Court's
decision would be an advisory decision which the Court usually would not give.

As for the mootness of the case: "If that termination makes a case moot, pregnancy litigation
seldom will survive much beyond the trial stage, and appellate review will be effectively
denied".

Opponents object that there is no clear constitutional foundation for the Supreme Court's
decision. They argue that the Constitution is silent on the issue, making the proper solution to
the problem to be state legislatures and the democratic process, rather than federal
government intervention.

Caused many states to react in ways that would limit abortion to countereffect the ruling:
parental consent for minors, parental notification laws, spousal notification laws, laws
requiring abortions to be performed in hospitals rather than clinics, barring of state funded
abortions, waiting periods, mandatory ultrasounds, etc. Hyde Amendment also barred funding
of abortions through the Medicaid program for women unless they are the victim of rape or
incest, or life-threatened.