Rule of Law

Roe vs. Wade was the case used as precedence.

On January 22nd, 1973 the U.S Supreme Court decided the case of Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113 (1973)), recognizing the inclusion of a woman’s decision to carry out or terminate a pregnancy under the constitutional right to privacy. The court sided with ‘Jane Roe’, an unmarried woman from Texas seeking a safe and legal abortion. The ruling decriminalized abortion and set a precedent for more than 30 future rulings involving access to abortion.

(http://www.prochoicepower.org/issues/roe-vs-wade.html)

In addition, the Court distinguished the Stenberg case, which previously struck down Nebraska's partial-birth abortion law. The Court held that the state statute at issue in Stenberg was more ambiguous than the later federal statute at issue in Carhart.

(http://www.priestsforlife.org/pba/05-1382respondent.pdf)

These cases have been the controversy for other abortion suits thereafter. While the courts have ruled to prevent the tragic deaths of these unborn babies, it has been said, that the courts only rule to prevent women from having the right to make their own determinations whether or not to keep an unwanted child.