Title: Roe v. Wade legal definition of Roe v. Wade
Headings: Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Norma McCorvey: The Real Jane Roe
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Cross-references
Fetal Rights; Fetal Tissue Research; Penumbra; "Roe v. Wade" (Appendix, Milestone); Wattleton, Alice Faye.
Roe v. Wade
Opinion of U.S. District Court, N.D. Texas, June 17, 1970 . . . . . . . .499
Briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court
Brief for Appellant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .505
Brief for Appellee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .517
Supplemental Brief for Appellants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .535
Opinion of the Supreme Court, January 22, 1973 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .542
ISSUE
HOW TO USE MILESTONES IN THE LAW
THIS CASE IN HISTORY
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Content: In a 7–2 decision on January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court struck down an 1857 Texas statute that made abortion illegal except where the life of the mother was in danger. The Court's opinion, as written by Justice harry a. blackmun, set forth guidelines for the drafting of future state legislation on the issue. In a long and detailed opinion, the Court specified the points during a woman's pregnancy when the interests of the state in the health of the mother and of the fetus emerge. Roe established the parameters of the abortion debate for decades to come. The case involved an unmarried pregnant woman who was at the time identified only as Jane Roe in order to maintain her anonymity but who has since publicly identified herself as Norma McCorvey. McCorvey, a resident of Texas, wanted to have an abortion, but the existing state law prevented her from doing so. She filed a lawsuit in federal district court on behalf of herself and all other pregnant women. The suit sought to have the Texas abortion law declared unconstitutional as an invasion of her right to privacy as guaranteed by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. She also sought to have an Injunction, or court order, issued against the statute's enforcement so that she might go forward with the abortion. A physician, James Hubert Hallford, who was being prosecuted under the statute for two abortions he had performed, also filed suit against the law, as did a childless couple, the Does (Mary Doe and john doe ).