Roe v. Wade, 410
U.S. 113 (1973), is a
landmark decision by the
United States Supreme Court on the issue of
abortion. Decided simultaneously with a companion case,
Doe v. Bolton, the Court ruled 7–2 that a right to
privacy under the
due process clause of the
14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting women's health. Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the Court resolved this
balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the third
trimester of pregnancy.
The Court later rejected
Roe 's trimester framework, while affirming
Roe 's central holding that a person has a right to abortion until
viability.
[1] The
Roedecision defined "viable" as being "potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid", adding that viability "is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks."
[2]