ROE V. WADE (1973) CASE SUMMARY

In 1970 Jane Roe (a pseudonym for the unmarried, pregnant woman in the case) filed a class action suit “on behalf of herself and all other women similarly situated” in a U.S. District Court in Dallas, Texas, against Henry Wade, the District Attorney of Dallas County. She wished to terminate her pregnancy by an abortion “performed by a competent, licensed physician, under safe, clinical conditions.” She was unable, however, to obtain a legal abortion in Texas because Texas law, typical of laws in effect at that time in many states, made it a felony criminal offense to obtain an abortion unless the mother’s life was threatened by the pregnancy. She stated that she could not afford to travel to another state where she could obtain a legal abortion under safe conditions. She sought a declaratory judgment that the Texas law was unconstitutional and an injunction restraining the District Attorney from enforcing the law. A three-judge District Court held that “the fundamental right of single women and married persons to choose whether to have children is protected by the Ninth Amendment through the Fourteenth Amendment” and that “the Texas abortion law was void on its face because it was unconstitutionally vague and constituted an overbroad infringement of plaintiff’s Ninth Amendment rights.” However, that court declined to issue the requested injunction. Roe, et.al. then appealed the District Court’s judgment denying the injunction directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. At the same time, the District Attorney cross appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court the District Court’s judgment declaring Texas’ abortion law unconstitutional.