In what Supreme Court case was it first ruled that the right to privacy encompassed a woman’s right to choose abortion?
a.) Lawrence v. Texas
b.) Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt
c.) Roe v. Wade
d.) Griswold v. Connecticut
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is c) Roe v. Wade.
In the landmark case Roe v. Wade (1973), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a woman’s right to choose an abortion is protected under the constitutional right to privacy. This decision was based on the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process rights and privacy protections. The Court found that the right to privacy, although not explicitly stated in the Constitution, was implied by the Bill of Rights and certain other amendments, such as the First, Fourth, Ninth, and 14th Amendments.
The case involved a woman, “Jane Roe” (a pseudonym), who challenged Texas laws that criminalized most abortions, claiming they were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, determined that these restrictive laws violated a woman’s constitutional right to privacy. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion, which stated that this right to privacy extends to a woman’s decision to terminate her pregnancy, but it is not absolute. The Court established a framework for balancing the woman’s rights with the state’s interests in regulating abortions. This framework was based on trimesters: in the first trimester, the decision was left to the woman and her doctor; in the second trimester, the state could regulate abortions in ways related to maternal health; and in the third trimester, once the fetus could potentially survive outside the womb, the state’s interest in protecting life could justify stricter regulations.
This ruling effectively legalized abortion nationwide, overturning state laws that had restricted access to abortion services. Roe v. Wade became a defining decision in the ongoing debate over reproductive rights in the U.S. However, this decision was overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), which returned the authority to regulate abortion to individual states.