Supreme Court's Landmark Ruling in Roe v Wade: Establishing Abortion as a Constitutional Right

Introduction

The Supreme Court of the United States on 22nd January 1973 on the case Roe v Wade citation 410 U.S. 113 (1973) ruled 7-2 which proved to be one of the most controversial and vexed cases in U.S history. The court ruled on the establishment of the abortion act as a constitutional privilege and right for the women. The incepted law ratified that the Texas laws limiting a woman from indulging in abortion were unconstitutional and contravened the right to privacy stipulated in the fourteenth amendment. The fourteenth amendment in the due process clause guaranteed the right accorded to the women to carry out an abortion. Justice Harry Blackmun inscribed the majority opinion on the case while addressing some of the states including Texas' violation of the right of privacy. A woman has total discretion concerning the matter of the child.

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Jane Roe which was a substitutional name adopted to protect the appellant took to court the matter seeking to resolve the dispute with Henry Wade. He was the Dallas, Texas County, district attorney. The proceedings began in 1970 with the consummation of the process happening in 1973. The previous state statutes reiterated that abortion was only legal and constitutional only if the life of the mother was at risk thus only having exceptions. The rule rendered the laws invalid after scrutinizing the constitution.

The Supreme Court, however, claimed that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was limited to an extent. The court refuted Roe's affirmation on the autonomous right to carry out an abortion at any time and in any way in a bid to assert the court's/law's empowerment to balance the right of privacy and the regulation of termination of pregnancy. The above affirmation that Blackmun referred to as a 'compelling state interest' would give the court a right to regulate while not infringing the right of privacy. A pregnant woman had the right to abort but only before the end of the 1st trimester after which the government would regulate with the interest of health for both the mother and the fetus. The court would define the level of interest over the other 2 trimesters thus amending the laws of the states. As the second trimester is approached the risks of having an abortion begin to overlap those of childbirth and the state can therefore regulate but not ban the right to an abortion as the interest is less than viable. The third trimester is inclusive of the period that the fetus becomes expedient, the interest in protecting it is compelling and therefore the state can veto an abortion with the exception of protecting maternal life.

Main Laws Violated in Roe v Wade

The Roe v Wade case became nationally recognized as the case which legalized abortions, with the Supreme Court in 1973 holding that the Texas criminal abortion statute was unconstitutional and violated the right to privacy. The right to privacy although not comprehensively stated is under the protection of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment (Ely,1, 1972). The right to privacy previously imparted in other cases such as Griswold v Connecticut which the Supreme Court stated a ban on contraceptives to married couples violated their right to privacy and provided the right to privacy in the fourteenth amendment as its supporting argument that the Constitution gives Americans the right to privacy.

In Roe v Wade, the supreme court justice Blackmun provided that the prohibition of an abortion contravenes a pregnant woman's right to privacy for factors such as the woman having an unwanted child would lead to a distressing life and future. The psychological harm in the mother's life would also be imminent and hence having restricted the mother an abortion right infringes her right to privacy in her life. The main law thus breached in the case according to the Supreme Court was the right to privacy. The Supreme Court has established that there is a constitutional right to privacy although limited, is grounded on certain provisions and amendments. The Supreme Court's arguments, therefore, followed that the right to privacy is broad enough to incorporate a woman's decision whether or not to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (Garrow,2, 2015). The right is therefore elemental but does not give the woman absolute control as the appellants provided stating that a woman had the right to terminate the pregnancy at any time for whatever reason. The court held that although the right is in violation, the state would be able to have a regulation on the basis of compelling interests to protect prenatal and maternal life, which led to the development of the trimester framework of compelling interest.

Possible Penalties That Could Be Associated With the Violation of the Right to Privacy

The right to privacy is not explicitly stated in the constitution but the Supreme Court has held the ruling that there is a constitutional right to privacy for American citizens. Violation of the right means that one's right to privacy in their personal life has been intruded upon by a third party. The consequences for infringement of a person's right to privacy includes legal action for the damages brought about by the privacy violation. One can sue or be sued for the amount of physical, financial and emotional damages caused by intruding on another person's privacy. A penalty of evidence requisition if procured illegally through improper search that violates the right to privacy of an individual.

State or Federal Court Systems and Jurisdictional Requirements

The case of Roe v Wade was heard in both state and federal courts, it all began when Norma McCorvey realized she was pregnant with her 3rd child having given birth twice prior and holding the kids up for adoption. With the help of two attorneys Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, McCovey filed a suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas a state court, under a legal pseudonym Jane Roe. The defendant on the case was the Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade. McCorvey was on the search to end her pregnancy through abortion which was illegal in the state of Texas with the exception that the procedure was to save a mother's life. Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington claimed that the law infringed Roe's constitutional rights.

The judges in the panel of the district court concurred with the appellants stating that the law was unconstitutional and violated the right of privacy, however, they failed to give an injunction against the law enforcement forcing Roe to appeal to the federal court. Roe v Wade made it to the Supreme Court on its appeal in 1970. After the proceedings and arguments, the Supreme Court struck the 7-2 judgement that the Texas law was unconstitutional and went ahead to make the arguments preceded above.

The jurisdictional requirements in the case were held only for the state of Texas however states had the right to regulate abortions in relations to their borders with some states like having legal abortion procedures. Jane Roe could not afford to go to another state and get a legal abortion. The requirement was therefore that she remain in the state of Texas where abortions could only be performed to save a mothers life. The Supreme Court ruling portrayed judicial activism where the judges made a decision that included their own stance on the issue (Regan,3, 1979). The Supreme Court overturned the states ruling that abortion was a criminal act except for the purpose of saving a mother's life

Fundamental Reasons Why It Was Necessary for the Case to Be Held in Both the State and Federal Court Systems.

Roe v Wade is a landmark case that bestowed upon women the right to an abortion which was protected by the right of privacy under the fourteenth amendment. The case was of social, ethical and political importance which is why it has proven to be one of the highly recognized cases in the United States. Abortion was generally not considered a crime until the 1800s it was rather a practice that was considered immoral and unethical. In the early 1800s, states began passing laws that restricted abortions that led to the criminalizing of abortion. By the end of the century, almost all states had laws against abortion but women who could afford it, still went ahead as the laws were rarely enforced. It was therefore crucial that the case of Roe v Wade be held in the state court of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, to portray all the women in the state of Texas that is a class action suit; who could neither afford to travel to states such as New York where abortion was legal at the time to get a safe procedure or had the financial ability to go to illegal abortion clinics within the state.

A show of the violation of the rights of a pregnant woman under the fourteenth amendment which even though not explicitly stated in the constitution was a protected constitutional right. Roe v Wade was a sensitive case and with a close relationship with the cases that arose from it Doe v Bolton and Hallford v State. The state court recognized that the law was unconstitutional and violated the right to privacy however failed to grant an injunction against the enforcement of the law, the case on reaching the Supreme Court was argued upon and action taken legalizing the abortions in all states as per the right of privacy. Abortion did not only affect the women in Texas, but women in other states also fell victim to violation of their rights of privacy through infringed abortions and therefore it was a principal reason for the case to be held in the supreme court to give a holistic outcome for all the women of the United States.

Summary of Case Outcomes

Roe v Wade was a controversial case with the district court first ruling that the right to privacy was violated and that the law against abortion infringed on a woman's right to privacy but failed to grant an injunction on the enforcement of the law to the supreme courts final ruling in 1973 leading to it becoming one of the most recognized cases in the United States. The ruling of the Supreme Court declared that all state laws that infringed abortion were unconstitutional with the only exception being when the mother's life was at stake.

The Supreme Court also provided the trimester framework was infringing on abortion in the first trimester was prohibited holding on factors such as compelling interests and viability of the fetus. In the second trimester, the regulations were prohibited based on if the mother's life was in danger of the pregnancy. At the point in which the fetus becomes viable the interest in protecting it is compelling and therefore the state can prohibit abortions. The Supreme Court, however, did not agree with the appellants that the mother had absolute rights to the termination of the pregnancy. It, therefore, made this case as one of the most contentious cases the Supreme Court has decided. The case in the district court was ruled upon by a panel of three Judges Sarah Hughes, William Taylor and Judge Irving Goldberg who refused the injunctive. The supreme court issued a 7 - 2 ruling in the favour of Jane Roe in which 7 justices supported that abortion was a violation of the right of privacy.

Conclusion

The outcome of the case was justified as women have been victims of rape which often lead to raising an unwanted child and depression. The former can lead to the abandonment of children and giving them up for adoption. An unwanted pregnancy also imposes psychological harm on both the mother and the child when he or she discovers that he was the fruit of an unwanted pregnancy. The Supreme Court's ruling was therefore justified and fair as the state retained some authority on the viability and compelling interests in carrying out the procedures. The ruling is p...