
Chief Justice Warren Burger decided that Roe and Doe, as well as the other cases that were scheduled on the docket, should go on as planned. Shortly before that date, Justices Hugo Black and John Marshall Harlan II retired from the bench. Bolton.Īrguments in the case began on December 13, 1971. statute that similarly outlawed abortion, the Court voted to hear Roe and the closely related case of Doe v. After the Court announced the decision in Vuitch, which upheld the constitutionality of a Washington, D.C. However, the Court decided to wait to hear Roe until they had decided Younger v. Texas appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, and the case reached the Court in 1970. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreed, and ruled that the Texas law violated Roe’s right to privacy found in the Ninth Amendment, and was therefore unconstitutional.

The suit claimed that, while her life was not in danger, Roe had a right to obtain an abortion in a safe, medical environment within her home state. The attorney assisted McCorvey with beginning the process of putting her child up for adoption, and also referred her to Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, two recent graduates of the University of Texas Law School.Ĭoffee and Weddington brought a lawsuit on McCorvey’s behalf (who went by the alias “Jane Roe” throughout the case to protect her identity) claiming that the state’s law violated Roe’s constitutional rights. McCorvey visited a local attorney seeking advice on what to do next. Instead, McCorvey attempted to have an illegal abortion, but she soon discovered that the authorities had shut down the facility. McCorvey was advised by her friends to falsely assert that she had been raped, but there was no police report to back up this claim. At the time, Texas law only allowed for abortion in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. It was to be her third child, but McCorvey wished to have an abortion. McCorvey discovered that she was pregnant in June 1969.

The decision has proven to be one of the most controversial cases in the Court’s history. Wade, the Court ruled that a state law that banned abortions except to save the life of the mother was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. Whether you're an organizer or someone looking to attend an abortion rally, here are 40 abortion rights sign ideas to help you hit the streets with a loud and clear message.On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that continues to divide the nation to this day. The sites provide addresses for meetup spots and tell you whether they'll be held in-person or online. You can also check websites like We Won't Go Back and Women's March to see a map with all the local protests across the country. If you follow accounts such as Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and other reproductive justice pages, you're likely to see news from different protest organizers. If you're looking for ways to get out there, social media is always a good place to start. How do I find an abortion rights protest near me? The decision sent shockwaves throughout the country and sparked a flood of reproductive rights protests. Now, each state will have to decide whether abortion is legal within its borders. The newly released decision says that the Constitution does not protect a person's right to an abortion. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which deals with Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, was obtained by Politico.

This decision came nearly two months after a leaked draft majority opinion for the 2022 case Dobbs v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case that protected a person's right to an abortion, was officially overturned on June 24.
