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Chief Justice:

Warren E. Burger

Associate Justices:

William O. Douglas

William J. Brennan Jr.

Potter Stewart

Byron R. White

Thurgood Marshall

Harry A. Blackmun

Lewis F. Powell Jr.

William H. Rehnquist

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Jane Roe (a false name to protect the woman's identity) filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade, district attorney of Dallas Country, Texas

She challenged a Texas law that made abortion illegal except in the case in which there was a threat to the mother's life

Roe claimed that the Texas law was vague and violated her right to privacy

After the Lower Court decision, Henry Wade appealed to the Supreme Court

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Northern District Court of Texas
Decision: The state of Texas' abortion ban was illegal because it violated a constitutional right to privacy.

After this decision, Wade declared he would continue to prosecute doctors who performed abortions, and the case was eventually appealed to the Supreme Court.

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Q: Does the Constitution recognize a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy by abortion?
A: Inherent in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is a fundamental “right to privacy” that protects a pregnant woman’s choice whether to have an abortion. However, this right is balanced against the government’s interests in protecting women's health and protecting “the potentiality of human life.” The Texas law challenged in this case violated this right.
VOTE 7-2

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Majority Opinion Authored by Harry A. Blackmun:

Cited the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (“…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”) of the Constitution, declaring that it "protects against state action the right to privacy, and a woman's right to choose to have an abortion falls within that right to privacy".

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This case has become known as the case that legalized abortion nationwide, recognizing a woman's right to privacy. It impacts thousands of woman across the nation today because of its allowance of personal choice and the rights to control what a woman does with her own body without governmental interference.

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Concurring Opinions authored by Warren E. Burger, William O. Douglas, and Potter Stewart:

Burger remarked that Texas statutes and the similar ones in Georgia violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Douglas cited Griswold v. Connecticut, and the Supreme Court held that forbidding contraceptives is unconstitutional under the Bill of Rights and zones of privacy.

The lower courts set precedent in Doe v. Bolton for other cases dealing with contraceptives and abortions, that broadened the right to privacy enough to allow women to chose.

Dissenting Opinions by Byron White and William H. Rehnquist:

Per Justice White, the rationale of the Majority is that Constitution values the convenience of the mother during the early phases of the fetus’s development, therefore the Constitution protects her right to have an abortion against states’ ban on abortions with reasons other than protecting the mother’s health.

Justice Rehnquist points out that while the Majority decided that states cannot restrict abortions during the first trimester of the pregnancy, the plaintiff was never in the first trimester throughout the course of the trial. He believes that the Court has abandoned a long standing tradition by deciding this case.

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Wade:

The state law of Texas has a responsibility to protect viable prenatal life.

The unborn are entitled to protection under the US Constitution.

The Texas law is constitution and should be upheld.

Debate over class action cases

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Judicial Activism:

The case set a precedent for the nation, legalizing abortion.

The case's ruling became a fundamental part of American law.

The court went beyond the applicable law to consider broader societal implications of its decision, extending the Fourteenth Amendment to the right to have an abortion.

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Roe:

Petitioner cited Vuitch v. United States, which held that the District of Columbia's abortion law banning the practice except when necessary for the health or life of the woman was not unconstitutionally vague, stating that it did not dispose of the current question at hand.

Claimed that the Texas law was too vague and doctors continued to feel uncertain about the impact of abortion law.

Based on the privacy protections in the Fourteenth Amendment, women should be allowed the right to an abortion.