Abortion Case: Rode v Wade
Did Roe Cause a Backlash?
Not in the sense we think it would Majority of Courts ruled abortion legal Majority of Americans favored access to abortion
A right to privacy
14th Amendment due process: - Women legitimately may face pressures related to childbirth - This does not mean an unrestricted right - States also have interests These interests increase overtime
Consitutional Claim
A right to privacy?
Summary of Case
Appellant Jane Roe, a pregnant mother who wished to obtain an abortion, sued on behalf of all woman similarly situated in an effort to prevent the enforcement of Texas statutes criminalizing all abortions except those performed to save the life of the mother.
Concurring
Clarifying rights to privacy as centered on Due Process clause Substantive due process
State's POV
Discourage illicit sexual conduct Medical safety Protecting prenatal life
Elite influence
It took about 10 years before the Moral Majority coalesced in a new Republican coalition Masses "sorted" into parties & also just took-up the party's position Legitimacy of the Court rests in its ability to teach the public
Dissent
Justice Rehnquist. The right to an abortion is not universally accepted, and the right to privacy is thus not inherently involved in this case.
Conflicts prior to Roe
The Catholic Church 1972 Presidential Campaign Abortion as a strategic partisan realignment
Decision
The Court held that a woman's right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave a woman total autonomy over the pregnancy during the first trimester and defined different levels of state interest for the second and third trimesters.
Political parties & coalition maintenance/expansion
Emergence of the "family values" & "moral majority" movement The politicization of these interests is rooted in racial integration
