The U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 decision giving women in America the right to have an abortion before the foetus is viable outside the womb — before the 24-28 week mark.
Key highlights
The ruling was expected for some weeks now, after a draft opinion leaked in early May, sending shock waves through the country and sparking protests.
- Abortion rights — which have been available to women for over two generations — will now be determined by individual States.
- Some 20 States have laws restricting or banning abortions. Thirteen States have laws banning the procedure, that come into effect, now that Roe has been overturned.
- The Supreme Court said, ‘the Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.’
What is Roe vs Wade case ?
- In 1969, a 25-year-old s Norma McCorvey under the pseudonym “Jane Roe”, challenged the criminal abortion laws in Texas.
- The state forbade abortion as unconstitutional, except in cases where the mother’s life was in danger.
- Ms McCorvey was pregnant when she filed the case, and claimed that she had been raped. But the case was rejected and she was forced to give birth. Then her case reached the US Supreme Court.
- In 1973, by a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court ruled that governments lacked the power to prohibit abortions.
- They judged that a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy was protected by the US constitution.
- The case gave American women an absolute right to an abortion in the first three months (trimester) of pregnancy.
- Roe v Wade also established that in the final trimester, a woman can obtain an abortion despite any legal ban only if doctors certify it is necessary to save her life or health.
Legal abortion: Proponents and Opponents
- Proponents of legal abortion believe abortion is a safe medical procedure that protects lives, while abortion bans endanger pregnant people not seeking abortions, and deny bodily autonomy, creating wide-ranging repercussions.
- Opponents of legal abortion believe abortion is murder because life begins at conception, that abortion creates a culture in which life is disposable, and that increased access to birth control, health insurance, and sexual education would make abortion unnecessary.
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