Roe V. Wade Case

Legal English
Subgroup:201

Assignment: ROE v/ WADE case

Facts: The plaintiff of this case was Norma McCorvey, also named Jane Roe. She was a pregnant single woman who brought a class actionsuit, questioning the constitutionality of the Texas abortion laws; which made it a crime to attempt an abortion, unless it were in order to protect the mother’s health.
Actually, other plaintiffs wereincluded in the same case. On the one hand, James Hubert Hallford – a doctor who faced criminal prosecution for violating the state abortion laws- and the Does, a Georgia married couple with nochildren who sought an injunction against enforcement of the laws on the grounds that they were unconstitutional.
On the other hand, the defendant was the county District Attorney Wade.

Issues: Theissues concerned in this case are whether the abortion laws that penalize all abortions, except those declared legal in the benefit of mothers, are Constitutional or not. The second issue exposed iswhether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, protects the right to privacy, concerning the right to obtain an abortion. The third point is if there are anycircumstances where a state may enact laws prohibiting abortion. And last, if the fact that Jane Roe’s pregnancy had already terminated before this case, makes irrelevant her lawsuit moot and whether thedistrict court was correct in denying injunctive relief.

Holdings: The justice Blackmun with other six justices, sentenced over other two, who dissented, that the Texan criminal abortion laws, exceptthose which protected the mother’s life, and do not take into consideration the stage of pregnancy and other interests, are not constitutional due to the violation of the Due Process Clause of the 14thAmendment. This Clause effectively protects the right to privacy, broadly interpreting the capacity of the woman to end up with her pregnancy, against State action.
Regarding those laws that a State...