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[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Roe v. Wade
Roe v Wade is undoubtedly one of the Supreme Court's most controversial decisions. Handed down in January of 1973, the Court declared, by a vote of 7 to 2, that abortion was a right guaranteed by the Constitution under an implied right to privacy.In Roe, the Supreme Court found that a woman's right to decide whether to become a parent deserves the highest level of constitutional protection.
The court also recognized that the right to privacy is not absolute and that a state has valid interests in safeguarding maternal health and protecting potential life. According to the court, a state's interest in potential maternal health is not compelling until the second trimester of pregnancy and its interest in potential life is not "compelling" until viability, the point in pregnancy at which there is a reasonable possibility for the sustained survival of the fetus outside the womb. A state may - but is not required to - prohibit abortion after viability, except when it is necessary to protect a woman's life or health (Gold, 32).
I never, never, never thought we'd be in this position," said Sarah Weddington, the Texas lawyer who argued Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court, securing a 7-2 vote on Jan. 22, 1973 from an all-male bench. "At the time, I thought it had been written in concrete, and now I see it's sandstone." In Roe, Justice Harry A. Blackmun recognized a right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution that encompasses a woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy......
