Roe v. Wade: Supreme Court Grants Abortion Rights
The Supreme Court's 7-2 decision in Roe v. Wade established that the Constitution's implied right to privacy extended to a woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy, striking down Texas's near-total ban on abortion. Justice Harry Blackmun authored the majority opinion, creating a trimester framework: states could not restrict abortion in the first trimester, could regulate it to protect maternal health in the second, and could ban it after fetal viability in the third. The ruling instantly invalidated abortion laws in 46 states. Justice Byron White called it an 'exercise of raw judicial power' in his dissent. The decision activated both the pro-choice and pro-life movements, reshaping American political coalitions for half a century. Republican strategists recognized abortion as a wedge issue that could pull Catholic Democrats into their coalition. The ruling was overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson in 2022.
January 22, 1973
53 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on January 22
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