Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Miscellaneous None Provided44 None Provided44 Roe v. Wade is court case of 1973 in which the Supreme Court ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy. Before the Court's ruling, a majority of states prohibited abortion but most allowed an exception when pregnancy threatened the woman's life. The Court overturned these state bans in Roe v. Wade. The Court ruled that states could restrict abortions only during the final three months of pregnancy. The decision was strongly endorsed by many women's rights groups. However, it was fiercely opposed by many others of whom said that life begins at conception. In the United States abortion was decided by the states rather than with the federal government. Until the second half of the 19th century most states chose not to restrict abortion. However, by the end of the 19th century, the majority of states had adopted statutes that made it a crime to either perform an abortion. Except to save the life of a pregnant woman. Most of these 19th century statutes were still in effect in 1970. When Norma McCorvey, a pregnant woman from Dallas first challenged the state of a Texas abortion law. Using the name "Jane Roe," McCorvey sued Dallas County district attorney Henry Wade to be allowed to have an abortion. The Texas law banned abortions in that state, except when the pregnancy threatened the life of the pregnant woman. Roe's pregnancy did not threaten her lif. She was a poor, single woman and she did not want to have a child she could not afford to raise. Roe and her attorneys asked the federal district court to declare that the Texas abortion statute violated her rights under the Constitution. They also asked the court to forbid the district attorney from prosecuting anyone else under the Texas abortion law in the future. Texas ruled in favor of Roe on the grounds that the law violated her constitutional rights to privacy. The court ruled that the 9th Amendment and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution guaranteed privacy rights that were broad enough to protect a woman's choice to have an abortion because the district court refused to forbid future prosecutions for abortion. Roe and her attorneys appealed to the US Supreme Court. Wade also appealed the decision. The Supreme Court heard arguments for Roe v. Wade in December 1971. After the justices intensely debated the issues, Chief Justice Warren Burger recommended that the case be reargued, stating, "These cases are not as simple for me as they appear to be for the other justices." The Court then ordered a second round of arguments, which it heard in October 1972. Finally, in January 1973 the Court decided 7-2 in favor of Roe. Justice Harry A. Blackmun wrote the Court's majority opinion and written document that announces the Court's decision and explains its reasoning. At the outset of his opinion, Blackmun noted "the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy" and the "vigorous opposing views" held by many Americans. He observed that "one's philosophy, one's experiences, one's exposure to the raw edges of human existence, one's religious training, one's attitudes toward life and family and their values, and the moral standards one establishes and seeks to observe, are all likely to influence and to color one's thinking and conclusions about abortion." But having noted these difficulties, Blackmun stressed the need to resolve the issue of abortion based on an interpretation of the Constitution. Blackmun noted that legislatures in England and the United States had made important differences between abortions performed early in a pregnancy and those performed later. In overturning these statutes, Blackmun noted that by the 1970s the medical dangers posed by pregnancy and childbirth might be greater to women than the dangers from an abortion. He cited medical evidence suggesting that "mortality rates for women undergoing early abortions, where the procedure is legal, appear to be as low as or lower than rates for normal childbirth." Blackmun ended that the state should have a responsibility to ensure that abortions be performed safely, to protect the women patients. He argued that there was no medical reason for prohibiting abortions in the early stages of pregnancy. Since the Roe decision the Supreme Court has heard more than a dozen cases involving attempts by the states or the national government to restrict abortion. In deciding these cases, the Court has modified its decision in Roe v. Wade by allowing states to regulate abortion in many additional ways. The Court has always maintained that at least in the first trimester a woman has a right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy. The Court has allowed some states to impose restrictions that make an abortion difficult to obtain, particularly for low-income women and teenagers. The Court has also upheld state laws requiring that pregnant girls under the age of 18 must notify at least one parent before obtaining an abortion. Bibliography: Word Count: 828
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