Roe v. Wade is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that recognized the right to abortion. The case, decided in 1973, involved Jane Roe, an unmarried pregnant woman, who filed suit on behalf of herself and others to challenge Texas abortion laws. The Supreme Courts decision in Roe v. Wade recognized that the decision whether to continue or end a pregnancy belongs to the individual, not the government. Key points about Roe v. Wade include:
- The case struck down several Texas laws that criminalized abortion, holding that laws that impose an undue burden on a womans right to choose are unconstitutional.
- The Supreme Court recognized that the right to liberty in the Constitution, which protects personal privacy, includes the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy.
- The ruling placed reproductive decision-making alongside other fundamental rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion, by conferring it the highest degree of constitutional protection, known as “strict scrutiny”.
- The decision implied that the right to privacy protected abortion as a fundamental right.
- The ruling was critical to advancing gender equality in educational, economic, and political spheres.
Its important to note that the Supreme Court revisited Roe v. Wade in 1992 when reviewing Planned Parenthood v. Casey, upholding a pregnant persons right to choose abortion but changing the framework created in Roe. Additionally, in 2022, the Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion, upheld for nearly a half century, no longer exists. This decision has significant implications for abortion rights in the United States.
