The Supreme Court reversed the decision known as Roe v Wade on Friday, holding that there is no longer a federal constitutional right to abortion.
The opinion is the most consequential decision by the Supreme Court in decades and will transform the landscape of women’s reproductive health in the United States.
In the future, abortion rights will be determined by states unless Congress acts. Nearly half of the states have passed or will pass laws banning abortion, while others have enacted strict measures regulating the procedure.
“Roe was blatantly wrong from the start,” Judge Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion.
“The logic was exceptionally weak, and the decision had harmful consequences. And far from bringing a national solution to the abortion issue, Roe and Casey ignited the debate and deepened the divide.”
See the details of the case now annulled:
Case
1971 – The case was opened by Norma McCorvey, known in court documents as Jane Roe, against Henry Wade, the Dallas County District Attorney, who imposed a Texas law that prohibited abortion except to save a woman’s life.
Decision
January 22, 1973 – The United States Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, affirms the legality of a woman’s right to have an abortion under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
The court found that a woman’s right to abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave women the right to abortion throughout their pregnancy and defined different levels of state interest in regulating abortion in the second and third trimesters.
The decision affected laws in 46 states.
Legal Schedule
- 1971 – The Supreme Court agrees to hear the case brought by Roe against Wade, who was enforcing Texas abortion law that had been declared unconstitutional in an earlier lawsuit in federal district court. Wade was ignoring the legal ruling and both sides appealed.
- December 13, 1971 – The case is discussed before the United States Supreme Court.
- October 11, 1972 – The case is re-evaluated before the Supreme Court.
- January 22, 1973 – The United States Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, affirms the legality of a woman’s right to have an abortion under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
- June 17, 2003 – McCorvey (Roe) files a motion in federal district court in Dallas to have the case dismissed and asks the court to consider new evidence that abortion harms women. Included are 1,000 testimonials from women who say they regret their abortions.
- September 14, 2004 – A three-judge panel of the 5th US Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejects McCorvey’s motion to have the case dismissed, according to the court clerk.
- May 2, 2022 – In a striking violation of Supreme Court confidentiality and secrecy, the politician obtained what he calls a draft majority opinion written by Judge Samuel Alito that would overturn the Roe v. Wade of a federal constitutional right to abortion. The opinion on the case is not expected to be published until the end of June. The court confirms the authenticity of the document on May 3, but points out that it is not the final decision.
Source: CNN Brasil
