Title: What is Roe v. Wade? Everything you need to know
Headings: What is Roe v. Wade? Everything you need to know
What is Roe v. Wade? Everything you need to know
Who was the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade?
What was the Supreme Court's decision?
What changed after Roe v. Wade?
What was the response?
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Content: In Texas, it was abortion was a crime unless a woman's life was at risk. Similar statutes were in place in nearly every other state at the time. So McCorvey, seeking to safely and legally abort her pregnancy, sued Henry Wade, the Dallas county district attorney, in 1970. The case went on to the Supreme Court. Attorney Gloria Allred and Norma McCorvey,'Jane Roe' plaintiff from landmark court case Roe vs. Wade, during Pro Choice Rally in Burbank, California, on July 4, 1989. Bob Riha, Jr. / Getty Images
What was the Supreme Court's decision? On Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down the watershed ruling that a woman's right to make her own medical decisions, including the choice to have an abortion, is protected under the 14th Amendment. What changed after Roe v. Wade? Before the ruling, there were hardly any abortion clinics, since abortion was criminalized in most of the U.S. The Supreme Court's 7-2 decision impacted laws in 46 states. While it legalized abortion during the entirety of pregnancy, it stipulated that states could decide whether abortions were allowed during the second and third trimesters.