Roe v Wade is a 1973 United States Supreme Court case that held the United States Constitution protects a pregnant woman liberty to choose to have an abortion, grounding that right in a right to privacy the Court found implicit in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, subject to a trimester framework balancing that right against the state interests in maternal health and potential life. It was one of the most consequential and contested decisions in the Court history for the following half century. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women Health Organization expressly overruled Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992, which had replaced Roe trimester framework with an undue burden standard), holding that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and returning the authority to regulate or prohibit abortion to individual states.
Facts
Decision Year Decision Date HoldingThe Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides a fundamental right to privacy that protects a pregnant woman's right to choose an abortion, subject to a trimester framework balancing that right against the government's interests in the mother's health and potential life, with courts to evaluate abortion restrictions under strict scrutiny. 1 Current StatusOverruled by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022). 1 Case Status
Case Status (category)Overruled (in whole or part) 1 Connections
Associated With
Roe v. Wade (1973) relied on and extended Griswold's privacy reasoning.
Source Griswold v. Connecticut (Wikipedia)
Roe's own overruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022) is the case most often cited in the live debate over how much deference stare decisis owes a precedent later judged wrongly decided.
Source Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (Wikipedia)
Authored By
Source Roe v. Wade (Wikipedia)
Decided By
Source Black's Law DictionaryBryan A. Garner, editor; founded by Henry Campbell Black
In Legal System
Source Major Legal Systems in the World TodayRene David and John E.C. Brierley
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Roe v. Wade (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia 'Supreme Court decision' section
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court issued a 7-2 decision in favor of "Jane Roe" (Norma McCorvey)
Wikipedia lead section, fundamental right
provides a fundamental "right to privacy", which protects a pregnant woman's right to an abortion
Wikipedia lead section, Dobbs overruling
the Supreme Court overruled Roe in 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization
- Authored By: Harry Blackmun, Infobox majority field: Blackmun
In Group: Privacy, Reproduction and Personal Autonomy Cases, Introduction, sentence 1
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right of pregnant women to choose to have an abortion before the point of fetal viability.
View the Source Black's Law Dictionary
Bryan A. Garner, editor; founded by Henry Campbell Black, Thomson Reuters, 2019
Wikidata: Roe v Wade
Wikidata Q300950, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Major Legal Systems in the World Today
Rene David and John E.C. Brierley, Stevens and Sons, 1985In Legal System: Common Law
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (Wikipedia)
Griswold v. Connecticut (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Griswold v. Connecticut
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