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Roe v. Wade The case, known as Roe v. Wade, was initiated in March 1970 by Norma Mccorvey, who used the pseudo name Jane Roe, a pregnant unmarried woman, who wanted to interrupt her pregnancy safely and was refused in that under legal forbiddance. She brought a class action lawsuit against anti-abortion legislation of the State of Texas. Those laws prohibited abortion in all cases, except of the situations when the womans life was in critical danger. Roe claimed that such laws had been against her individual constitutional rights and had contradicted with the 1 st, 4 th, 5 th, 9 th and 14 th Amendments.
A young lawyer Sarah Weddinghton was the complainant of Roe, and Henry Wade, an experienced Attorney General of Dallas district, became the defendant of anti-abortion law in this case. Energy and enthusiasm of Sarah Weddinghton helped a lot when pursuing the case, which has been argued two times in the Supreme Court of the USA: on December 13, 1971, and on October 11, 1972 (rearing). On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court announced its 7 - 2 majority opinion on this case, along with the similar one Doe v. Bolton, 410 U. S. 179.
According to final decision, the Court recognized the right of women to decide on termination of pregnancy at its initial stage, and, therefore, the right to receive abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy term has been legalized. As a result, by issuing such a verdict the Supreme Court of the U. S. defined constitutional right of American women to make private decision whether to become mother or not, on early stages of pregnancy. The decision on Roe case proclaimed early pregnancy abortions to be nationwide legal. The announced opinion of the Court on this disputable and controversial issue went in confrontation with numerous antiabortion rulings of the states of the country and became one of the milestone historical decisions.
But when establishing the right to make abortion for American women, the Supreme Court emphasized on one important restriction. The announced decision did not proclaim abortion right as absolute, and the Court granted the opportunity to local governments to impose prohibition on abortion for women, who are on second and third trimester of pregnancy term, except when it is required for saving a womans life. Legal authorities gave explanations, saying that with this restriction they tried to protect the right of unborn citizens to live, and also to demonstrate the countrys interest in maternal health and social guarantees of safety, protection and care for potential lives. This decision caused a lot of criticism, protests and objections all around the country. The most energetic opponents of abortion right formed an antiabortion movement, which started intensive activity by making pressure on national and local courts, dealing with similar cases. Activists of this movement created so called anti-Roe litmus test for members of the Reagan and Bush administrations.
Efforts of the opponents used to be efficient: for example, during the last ten years a number of restrictions on making an abortion, particularly for teenagers, have been adopted by local governments, and there are other various restrictions and limitations, like the necessity of approval from the side of parents (if teenager), husband or partner, etc. The decision on Roe v. Wade case still remains among the most controversial and important verdicts. It is estimated that every year about 1. 5 million of women in America receive abortions. It means that since the times of Roe case in 1973, about 40 millions human lives were eliminated.
Recently the number of actual abortions, especially among the teenagers, and the number of deaths during abortion procedures is, fortunately, considerably decreasing. But it does not stop the debates and public discussions on the issue. It is also interesting fact, that Norma Mccorvey, the initiator of Roe v. Wade case, has drastically changed her mind as to the problems of abortion. Now she became a Head of a nonprofit anti-abortion organization, the Crossing Over Ministry. Lately, twenty years after hearings on her case, she applied to the Court to reverse the decision.
Bibliography: Katz, Nikki. "Roe vs. Wade What You Need to Know About Roe vs. Wade. " About. 2004. About Inc, PRIMEDIA Company. 1 Dec. 2004 < web >. "Roe v. Wade. " Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. 25 Nov. 2004.
Media Wikipedia. 1 Dec. 2004 < web >. Roe v. Wade: Its History and Impact. " Planned Parenthood. Katharine Dexter Mccormick Library.
Nov. 2002. Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 1 Dec. 2004 < web >. " Roe v. Wade Report. " California Right to Life. 1 Dec. 2004 < web >.
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