Roe v. Wade

The Burger Court vote in Roe v. Wade, 410 US 113 (1973) was split 7-2, as contrasted with the later 5-4 Rehnquist Court vote in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 US 833 (1992), a later case that upheld Roe and removed many obstacles in state laws restricting women's access to abortion without overtly prohibiting it. The the voting shift in the latter case was caused by the addition of more conservative justices to the Court, following a long string of Republican Presidencies.

Majority (Roe)

Chief Justice Warren Burger

Justice William O. Douglas

Justice William J. Brennan

Justice Potter Stewart

Justice Thurgood Marshall

Justice Harry Blackmun*

Justice Lewis Powell

Dissenting (Wade)

Justice Byron White

Justice William Rehnquist

* Justice Blackmun wrote the majority opinion.

The most important modification Webster made to the decision in Roe was elimination of the bright-line Trimester Rule originally used to determine what procedures could be performed at each stage of pregnancy.

In 1973, the age of viability was generally considered 24-28 weeks, with the Court opting to support the lower end of the threshold. In the last 38 years, medical advances have allowed doctors to (occasionally) save fetuses at close to 20 weeks (late second trimester). In light of these changes, Missouri law requires physicians to perform fetal viability tests at 20 or more weeks gestation. If the fetus can potentially live outside the womb, the abortion is prohibited. This seems reasonable in light of current technology.

Webster also covered certain issues not addressed in Roe, such as whether public funding had to be used to perform medically unnecessary abortions, and whether public employees were allowed to counsel pregnant women about abortion. This may restrict access and create a bit of a burden for lower income women.

Summary of Webster

In Webster v Reproductive Health Services, (1989), the Supreme Court decided by a vote of 5-4 that a Missouri state law restricting access to abortion was not unconstitutional. The specific statutory provisions upheld by the Court included the state's refusal to "use public employees and public facilities... in performing or assisting abortions unnecessary to save the mother's life"; the prohibition against encouraging and counseling women to have abortions; and a mandate that physicians perform fetal viability tests on women in their "twentieth (or more) week of pregnancy."

Case Citation:

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, 492 U.S. 490 (1989)

Roe v. Wade, (1973) was a landmark United States Supreme Court case establishing that most laws against abortion violate a constitutional right to privacy, and overturned all state laws outlawing or unduly restricting abortion. It is one of the most controversial decisions in US Supreme Court history.

The Court established guidelines for abortion according to a strict "trimester rule."

1. No statutory restriction on abortion allowed during the first trimester.

   "For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician."

2. After the first trimester, but prior to fetal viability, the State may regulate abortion in a reasonable way, if it promotes the health of the mother.

   "For the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester, the State, in promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health."

3. Once the fetus reaches viability, the States may choose to prohibit abortion except where necessary to preserve the health or life of the mother.

   "For the stage subsequent to viability the State, in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother."

The Supreme Court did not impose its own regulations on abortion; it only set guidelines for the states to follow.

Although Roe v. Wade was based on a Texas law, the Supreme Court decision legalized abortion in every state in the nation.

Case Citation:

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)

Roe v. Wade, 410 US 113 (1973)

No. Roe vs. Wade, the landmark case which disallowed federal or state restrictions on abortion and asserted a woman's constitutional right to privacy, was first heard in a District Court in Texas, before reaching the Supreme Court, which announced its decision in 1973.

There has been an enormous amount of debate over whether Roe V. Wade was a correct ruling by the Supreme Court, however the question asks about the arguments used and this can be objectively answered.

Contrary to popular belief, it was NOT a ruling that the Federal Government should have jurisdiction over abortion, but rather one that said that ANY branch of government would be in violation of the 4th amendment by banning abortion.

Although abortion is far too complex an issue for resolving here, the general argument carried in the Roe v. Wade decision was that attempts by any level of government to restrict access to abortion violated a person's 4th Amendment rights by interfering in the private relationship between a patient and a doctor.

Even if the argument is accepted that the States have jurisdiction over the matter, the States are still bound by the 4th amendment, and therefore would be prohibited from restricting abortion based upon this ruling.

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