The US Supreme Court has privately voted to strike down the constitutional right to abortion as determined by the landmark Roe vs Wade case in 1973, according to a leaked draft published news outlet Politico on May 2.
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.
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