Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)

"The right to privacy is broad enough to encompass
a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."

Dallas, Texas, 1970. Norma McCorvey wants to have an abortion. In Texas, that's illegal, except to save the mother's life. Ms. McCorvey has a choice: travel to one of the few states where it's not a crime, or have a risky, black market abortion. Instead, she sues, under the name "Jane Roe," charging that the state of Texas is depriving her of her Constitutional right to have a safe, legal abortion.

January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court issues the historic Roe versus Wade ruling. "The right to privacy," writes Justice Harry Blackmun "Although the results are divided, most of these courts have agreed that the right of privacy, however based, is broad enough to cover the abortion decision; that the right, nonetheless, is not absolute and is subject to some limitations; and that at some point the state interests as to protection of health, medical standards, and prenatal life, become dominant. We agree with this approach... The abortion decision in all its aspects is inherently, and primarily, a medical decision free of interference by the State."

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AMENDMENT 14 Due Process and Equal Protection of the Law

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. [^].

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