Abortion Controversy Remains 40 Years After Roe v. Wade
Jan. 22, 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court decision that deemed abortion legal under the US Constitution. The controversy over the 1973 case remains part of the national debate over abortion today. Proponents contend that abortion is a right that should not be limited by governmental or religious authority, and opponents assert that abortion is the immoral killing of an innocent human being because life begins at conception.
Roe v. Wade was filed on behalf of a pregnant single woman who challenged a Texas law that permitted abortion only to save the life of the mother. At the time of the court’s decision, 30 states had laws similar to the Texas law. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a fundamental right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman’s decision to have an abortion.
The Supreme Court’s decision also stated that a woman’s right to privacy must be balanced against protecting prenatal life and the health of the mother. The Court held that different levels of state regulation would be legal based on the stage of the pregnancy. According to PBS Frontline, states “could not prohibit abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy; in the second trimester, states could issue regulations ‘that are reasonably related to maternal health’; and in the final trimester, once the fetus is viable beyond the womb, the state could regulate or even prohibit abortion except in cases 'where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother.’”
