On this day in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, establishing that restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional. The case was launched by Norma McCorvey – known in court documents as “Jane Roe” – a Texas waitress who became pregnant in 1969 and sought an abortion, an act largely prohibited in the state. When she could not afford to travel to another jurisdiction for a safer procedure, McCorvey took legal action against Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, arguing that the current abortion laws violated her constitutional rights. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreed that the legislation infringed on her privacy rights.
The case eventually reached the Supreme Court in 1970, resulting in a landmark 7-2 ruling in McCorvey’s favor three years later. The Court agreed that state laws prohibiting abortion were in violation of the 14th Amendment, which promises that no state “shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens in the United States.” In the majority opinion, Justice Harry A. Blackmun wrote that the Texas statutes criminalizing abortions in most instances violated a woman’s constitutional right to privacy.
Ironically, McCorvey herself did not secure an abortion. By the time the decision was rendered in 1973, she had given birth and given her baby up for adoption. In the 1980s, McCorvey revealed her identity as “Jane Roe” and later underwent religious conversions becoming an evangelical Christian, then a Roman Catholic, and joining the anti-abortion movement. Despite the Supreme Court’s decision being overturned on June 24, 2022 – granting states the power to regulate abortion – the legacy of Roe v. Wade continues to be a flashpoint.
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