Roe v. Wade

Case Analysis #1
Roe v. Wade
1973

Roe v. Wade was a monumental case in support of legal abortions. Although I personally do not agree with the decision of the court, many states had to change their laws because of it. Many women were forced to travel to other states in order to obtain a legal abortion or those who could not afford to travel to other states for a legal abortion were forced to get illegal abortions. According to Hontz (1998), “Prior to Roe, nearly two-thirds of the states prohibited abortion, although many women obtained illegal and sometimes deadly abortions in the United States and Mexico.” Before this case, in Texas, it was only legal to get an abortion if a physician determined that pregnancy was dangerous to the mother’s health, she really had no right to choose an abortion if she did not want or was not ready for children, regardless of age, marital status, or other factors that many people take into consideration before having children.
Jane Roe was a single woman who became pregnant and wanted to terminate her pregnancy in an abortion that would be performed, “by a competent, licensed physician, under safe, clinical conditions (Blackmun 1973).” But because her life did not appear to be in danger, she could not get a legal abortion in Texas and she could not afford to travel to another jurisdiction to have a safe and legal abortion. Roe claimed that, “the Texas statutes were unconditionally vague and that they abridged her right of...

Roe v. Wade

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