Title: Roe v. Wade (1973) | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
Headings: Roe v. Wade (1973)
Roe v. Wade (1973)
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Abortion in the Supreme Court Post-Roe
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Content: Roe v. Wade (1973) | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
Roe v. Wade (1973)
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The Supreme Court case that held that the Constitution protected a woman’s right to an abortion prior to the viability of the fetus. Overview
The case involved a Texas statute that prohibited abortion except when necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. The Supreme Court, in a decision written by Justice Blackmun, recognized a privacy interest in abortions. In doing so, the court applied the right to privacy established in Griswold v Connecticut (1965). At stake in this matter was the fundamental right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. The underlying values of this right included decisional autonomy and physical consequences (i.e., the interest in bodily integrity). Because there was a fundamental right involved, the court applied the strict scrutiny test. The Court divided the pregnancy period into three trimesters. During the first trimester, the decision to terminate the pregnancy was solely at the discretion of the woman. After the first trimester, the state could “regulate procedure.”