Roe v. Wade is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protected a right to have an abortion. The case was filed by Jane Roe, an unmarried pregnant woman, who challenged the constitutionality of the Texas abortion laws that prohibited abortions except to save the pregnant womans life. In its 1973 decision, 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 decision made state abortion bans unconstitutional and legalized abortion in the United States, making it more accessible and safer throughout the country.
Roe v. Wade 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” . By guaranteeing the right to make decisions in matters of child-rearing, marriage, procreation, and the use of contraception, Roe was consistent with earlier Supreme Court rulings recognizing a right of privacy that protects intimate and personal decisions from governmental interference.
Since the Roe v. Wade decision, there has been an ongoing abortion debate in the United States about whether, or to what extent, abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, and what the role of moral and religious views in the political sphere should be.
