If you haven’t, you might be living under a rock.
and how the stipulations have changed over time, this is the untold truth ofRoe v. Wade.
Others allowed it only in cases when a woman’s (or her baby’s) life was endangered.
Still others allowed for it only in cases of rape or incest.
v. Henry Wade, District Attorney of Dallas County.
Jane Roe is actually the legal pseudonym forNorma McCorvey, the primary plaintiff in the case.
in the lawsuit filing) and make its way all the way to the Supreme Court.
McCorvey’s attorneysfiled the lawsuit in 1970and it was taken up by the Supreme Court in December of 1971.
He said, “Mr. Chief Justice, and may it kindly the Court.
The decision noted that a fetus is not a person, only a “potential life.”
This madeRoe v. Wademuch harder to challenge on a constitutional basis than other laws.
This is because of thelevels of scrutinycourts use to determine if the government is violating the Constitution.
Regulations that pass this test are unlikely to be deemed unconstitutional.
This is whyRoe v. Wadesat virtually unchallengedfor decades.
It also eliminated the trimester framework thatRoe v. Wadeestablished.
Americans are divided
Just as legal scholars are divided on theRoe v. Waderuling, so are Americans.
This occurred at the same time that Americans were trending more conservative on many issues,including gun control.
Later, sheconverted again, this time to Roman Catholicism.
According to McCorvey, she realized, “All those years I was wrong.
Signing that affidavit, I was wrong.
Working in an abortion clinic, I was wrong.
No more of this first trimester, second trimester, third trimester stuff.
Abortion at any point was wrong.”
“You’re not to act as your own God.”
The court of three federal judgesrejected the motionand the case was dismissed.
McCorveypassed awayat the age of 69 in 2017.
Then Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill to make abortion in Alabama a felony.
