Legalization of Abortion in the US - Roe v Wade - Case Study Example

Legalization of Abortion in the US - Roe v Wade Facts Legalization of abortion in the US was engendered by the decision in Roe v Wade. The plaintiff Jane Roe made an attempt to undergo an abortion in the State of Texas. In this state, abortion had been legal, only in instances where such intervention was indispensable for protecting the life of the mother. However, Roe approached the court with the plaint that Texan laws had infringed her constitutional right to terminate pregnancy (Roe v Wade, 1973). With the decision in Roe v Wade, abortion was legalized in many contexts. This ruling had far reaching effects on US society, and served to unite the proponents of the view that life commences at the very moment of conception. These entities depicted extraordinary activity in the judicial and legislative areas, with the express purpose of having the decision in this case overruled. However, in the subsequent rulings, the courts refused to set aside this ruling (Hartman, Mersky, & Tate, 2004, p. 14). As a consequence, the right to privacy has been protected and promoted without any qualifications. Procedural Issues In Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court held that abortion is a fundamental right under the US Constitution. The majority of the judges supported this ruling, which declared that women had a right to privacy. This right empowered women to decide whether to continue with pregnancy or to terminate it. However, the Supreme Court held that this right to undergo abortions was subject to regulation by the state. Such regulation would apply to instances where prenatal life or the health of the mother was to be protected (Roe v Wade, 1973). Thus, the right to privacy is not absolute in nature. As such, the state cannot restrict the right to abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. This is because during this period risk to the health of mother and to prenatal life is the least. In the second trimester, there is an escalation of these risks. Hence, the state can regulate abortion, in a manner that is reasonably pertinent to the health of the mother (Roe v Wade, 1973). During the final or third trimester, prenatal risk and risk to the health of the mother are at their greatest. Consequently, the state is empowered to restrict abortion if it deems this course of action to be appropriate. During this decision, two judges dissented and held that the Constitution did not provide for such imposition on women and that women should be allowed to decide about abortion (Roe v Wade, 1973). Reasoning Roe v Wade, involved the notions that first, constitutional rights are not derived from the instant of conception. Second, the state possesses interests regarding the life and potential personhood of the fetus. Third, in the earlier phases of pregnancy these interests have to be rendered subservient to the rights of the pregnant woman (Balkin, 2007, p. 846). In a majority 7 – 2 ruling the US Supreme Court held that the laws of Texas had breached Roe’s constitutional right to privacy. The right to undergo an abortion is founded on the constitutional right to privacy (Roe v Wade, 1973). The US Supreme Court ruling in Roe v Wade resulted in the enactment of legislation relating to abortion in the US. This decision emphasized that the US Constitution provided an implied right to abortion to women under the right to privacy. This right was seen to emanate from the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution. The Supreme Court declared that a fetus cannot be treated as a person, but only as potential life (Summary of Roe v. Wade and Other Key Abortion Cases). Consequently, a fetus does not have constitutional rights of its own. In addition, the Supreme Court stated that the state has the right to protect potential life. Thus, there should be some balance between the state’s right and the women’s right. In the first trimester of pregnancy, the right of the pregnant woman is strongest and as a result the state cannot exercise its right to regulate abortion for any reason (Summary of Roe v. Wade and Other Key Abortion Cases). In the second trimester, the state can regulate a woman’s right of abortion, only in order to protect her health. In the third trimester, the right of the state will be strongest and it can prohibit abortion in the interests of protecting the life of the fetus or the health of the mother (Summary of Roe v. Wade and Other Key Abortion Cases). Cases Subsequent to the first trimester of pregnancy, the state is empowered to reasonably regulate abortions, if such regulation is essential for protecting the health of the mother. After the fetus become viable, the state may prohibit abortion; however, if the life or health of the mother stands to be seriously compromised, the state has to permit the abortion. This exception was introduced via the decision in Doe v Bolton (Roe v. Wade). This constitutional right to privacy was interpreted in Eisenstadt v Baird as the right of unmarried individuals to resort to contraception. This was interpreted in Roe v Wade as the right of women to terminate their pregnancies. Prior to the ruling in Griswold v Connecticut , the Ninth Amendment to the US Constitution had been interpreted as reserving a right not granted to the federal government, to the state government (Griswold v. Connecticut). Consequently, the ruling in Eisenstadt v Baird, empowered the unmarried to purchase and use contraceptives. At the time of delivering the majority decision, Justice Brennan held that the decision in Griswold v Connecticut had permitted the distribution of contraceptives to married persons. As a consequence, there could be no prohibition on the supply of contraceptives to the unmarried (Griswold v. Connecticut). Holding The Supreme Court held that women had a right to abortion under the provisions of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. This ruling was upheld by a 7 to 2 majority of the judges. The Ninth Amendment and the penumbras of the Bill of Rights provide to all US citizens a right to privacy. The Due Process Clause also protects this right. Under this right, a woman can decide for herself whether to continue or terminate her pregnancy for any reason whatsoever, during the first trimester of pregnancy (Roe v. Wade). In Roe v Wade, several crucial principles were highlighted by Justice Blackmun. At the time of writing for the US Supreme Court he stated that every woman enjoyed a privacy right that was guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution (Bryant, 1976, p. 101). This privacy right empowered a woman to terminate her pregnancy, in consultation with her physician. Specifically, the US Supreme Court ruled that no State of the Union could set aside the decision made by a pregnant female to terminate her pregnancy by resorting to abortion, on the basis of the conviction that a fetus constitutes a living being (Bryant, 1976, p. 101). In addition, the US Supreme Court ruled that an unborn child could not be construed to be a living person. The term living person being that which the US Constitution employs. Finally, it was held by the Court that the question of when life begins was too complicated to be determined by legislative decree, especially when such determination is at the expense of the rights of women (Bryant, 1976, p. 102). Opinion The decision in Roe v Wade is justifiable in respect of women who are unwilling to continue with their pregnancy, due to pressing personal circumstances. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution entitles every individual with a right to privacy. It is to be clearly understood that a pregnant woman who is entirely incapable or unwilling to care for a child, will resort to any means to undergo an abortion. As such, preventing a woman from undergoing an abortion infringes her constitutional right of privacy. She should be given full freedom to take a decision, as she will be directly affected by the consequences of parenthood. List of References Balkin, J. M. (2007). How New Genetic Technologies Will Transform Roe V. Wade . Emory Law Journal, 56(4), 843 – 864. Bryant, M. D. (1976). State Legislation on Abortion after Roe v. Wade: Selected constitutional Issues. American Journal of Law & Medicine, 2(1), 101 – 132. Doe v Bolton, 410 U.S. 179 (U.S. Supreme Court January 22, 1973). Eisenstadt v Baird , 405 U.S. 438 (U.S. Supreme Court March 22, 1972). Griswold v Connecticut , 381 U.S. 479 (U.S. Supreme Court June 7, 1965). Griswold v. Connecticut. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2011, from Great American Court Cases, Gale : http://www.credoreference.com/entry/greatcourts/griswold_v_connecticut Hartman, G. R., Mersky, R. M., & Tate, C. L. (2004). Landmark Supreme Court cases: the most influential decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. Tate InfoBase Publishing. Roe v Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (U.S. Supreme Court January 22, 1973). Roe v. Wade. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2011, from http://orderinthecourt.org/Cases/18/Roe-v-Wade Summary of Roe v. Wade and Other Key Abortion Cases. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2011, from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://nccbuscc.org/prolife/issues/abortion/roevwade/CaseSummariesforwebsite4-18.pdf Read More