Before Roe filed a law suit challenging the Texas laws, all states had very authoritative laws that only allowed women (mostly) to have an abortion if the doctor believed they were endangered. During the trials the constitution, of course, was brought to the courts attention, to be specific the 9th and 14th amendments. The 9th amendment guarantees that the government would not infringe our natural rights, like freedom of speech, of religion, and self defense, etc. This also includes the right to bear children, the right to privacy, the right to pursue any occupation one desires, and the right to seek any medical treatment of ones choosing. The 14th amendment addresses many aspects such as citizenship, due process, privileges & immunities, …show more content…
Casey involved a challenge to the constitutionality of several state regulations that involved abortions. This case provided the first opportunity for Roe to be overturned, but the Court had to uphold the abortion laws under the theory women's rights weighed against a state's interests. Rollins.edu states, "Even though Roe v. Wade had ruled Texas abortion law unconstitutional, it did rule that narrower abortion state laws that regulate it might be sufficiently important to be constitutional and restricting abortion laws for the second and third trimester of the pregnancy. [4] This was questioned by many women’s liberation movements such as NOW (the National Organization for Women) who insisted that this was still an infringement on women’s right to privacy and due process. Arguments such as where the ‘deadline’ so to speak to get an abortion was fiddled with, bringing the morality of the unborn fetus as a person, still being part of the debate today in abortion legislation." The Texas abortion law was ruled unconstitutional, but was not the only state to be unconstitutional toward abortion laws or women's rights. Still to this day the right for a women to have an abortion is not fully fair. It is being looked upon as inhuman, and wrong for a woman to have an abortion, but more women have been more accepting since 1973. Roe v. Wade helped women's right and showed the court how unconstitutional the states had been toward women's
The amendments were proposed by James Maddison in the Constitution. In the year 1789, America’s founding fathers met and wrote the Constitution, starting with the Bill of Rights leading into the 27 amendments. Out of the 11,600 amendments that have been proposed, and the 33 that were sent to states for ratification, only 27 made the cut. It can take up to 10 years for a proposed amendment to be approved by each state and ratified. The shortest time for an Amendment to be ratified after the Senate approved it was 2 years.
Selective incorporation is a doctrine located in the constitution that protects its citizens from the states passing laws that could disregard their rights. Selective incorporation allows the federal government to place limitations on the legislative powers of the state. When the Bill of Rights were initially written, they only applied to the federal government, not the states. This was a concern for all for there was a possibility of the central government gaining too much power. It wasn’t until around 1833 that the supreme court even considered whether or not the Bill of Rights extended limitations to both the federal and state governments (Hudson Jr., 2017).
In the United States Constitution, our 14th amendment states that “[no state shall] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the laws” (Dictionary.com). The case Lawrence vs Texas, which started in 1998, in Harris County, was a case that was deeply investigating homosexual’s 14th amendment. It all began when four law enforcement officers were responding to a false call about a person armed with a firearm. After arriving at the house and going in they encountered John Lawrence and Tyron Garner engaging in "deviate sexual intercourse, namely anal sex, with a member of the same sex" (supreme.justia.com). According to the Texas sexual offenses a “deviate sexual [act]” is stated in the “Texas Penal Code Title 5.
The Bill of Rights was introduced into America's system of government along with the Constitution in order to appease Anti-Federalists that wanted to ensure the protection of their rights. The 14th Amendment was later added to guarantee due process and equal protection rights. The Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment are extremely effective in protecting the rights of all citizens and are most clearly shown in the 1st, 5th, and 6th Amendments. The full expanse of the 1st Amendment and the freedoms it provides have been debated since its implementation, but its involvement in Texas v. Johnson was a key step in setting the proper precedent for its use.
With twenty-seven amendments in existence, each broadens protections that were not previously covered. Within these twenty-seven are several major ones that strongly influence the dynamic in which Americans vote. The fourteenth and nineteenth coexist in a manner that allows them both to strongly control who votes, and how. Ratified on July 9, 1868, the fourteenth amendment expanded citizenship to all born on U.S. soil and sought to expand national rights to all, regardless of race (Fourteenth). This amendment included the expansion of citizenship to anyone truly born in the U.S., regardless of who their ancestors were-granting citizenship to former slaves.
There are always certain issues they may arise when going over the Constitution of the United States, we can find matters that can be outdated, or times have changed a bit as years go by. The 14th Amendment was not initially about education but it did have quite an impact when the Supreme Court addressed the “Brown v. Board of Education” (1954) case declaring school segregation is illegal. The 14th Amendment makes it clear it prevents,” any persons within its jurisdiction of the equal protection of the laws.” That all American citizen must be treated equally by law which we had become aware of but with Plyer v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982)
Roe vs. Wade is the highly publicized Supreme Court ruling that overturned a Texas interpretation of abortion law and made abortion legal in the United States. The Roe v. Wade decision held that a woman, with her doctor, has the right to choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy. As a result, all state laws that limited women 's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy were invalidated by this particular case. State laws limiting such access during the second trimester were upheld only when the restrictions were for the purpose of protecting the health of the pregnant woman. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the greater United States, which was not legal at all in many states and was limited by law in others.
Wade argued that constitution did not guarantee women the right to an abortion, and that personal and marital privacy are not absolute rights. The final Supreme Court ruling was done on January 22nd of 1973. This was the date the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in the case of Roe v. Wade. The final court ruling was in favor of Roe the petitioner in a 7-2 decision. Roe won the case and this meant that the court handed the rights of privacy of a personal liberty to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy (Lewis,
Supreme Court case of Roe V. Wade was first argued on December 13, 1971. Roe, a Texas woman, challenge the constitutionality of the Texas abortion law and making abortion illegal in the United States. Texas law made abortion a crime except when necessary to save the life of the mother. On the other hand, Roe believed that she " had a fundamental right to privacy." Roe argued that the Texas abortion law violated her right of the 9th and 14th amendments of the United States Constitution.
Throughout history Planned Parenthood has been in the spotlight of the court. In 1973, the supreme court case Roe v. Wade made headlines when it “ruled unconstitutional a state law that banned abortions except to save the life of the mother” (McBride) The case was brought up by Jane Roe, who said that banning abortions was in direct violation with her 14th amendment right to privacy.
The 14th Amendment was a milestone in the United States history. It is the sole amendment that keeps our people and their rights together. The rights of the people are a major aspect to keeping the American society going in a positive direction. With no rights, the government of the United States would be purely communism with one leader giving all of the orders. In most cases, history has proven that way of running your society is not the most successful way of doing things.
“On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Roe v. Wade, a challenge to a Texas statute that made it a crime to perform an abortion unless a woman’s life was at stake. The case had been filed by “Jane Roe,” an unmarried woman who wanted to safely and legally end her pregnancy. Siding with Roe, the court struck down the Texas law. In its ruling, the court recognized for the first time that the constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy” (Roe v. Wade, 1973).
The Right to Abortion On January 22, 1973, in a 7-2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down it’s landmark decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, which recognized that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions — including the decision to have an abortion without interference from politicians (Planned Parenthood). There are many moments in history when Roe v. Wade has been so close to being overturned, yet it is still in place. Abortion should stay legal, or not overturned, for the health of women everywhere. First, this important case took place at the time of abortion being illegal in most states, including Texas, where Roe v. Wade began.
56. Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989): The Court upheld Missouri restrictions on abortions that “public employees and public facilities were not to be used in performing or assisting abortions unnecessary to save the mother 's life; encouragement and counseling to have abortions was prohibited; and physicians were to perform viability tests upon women in their twentieth (or more) week of pregnancy.” It was a fractured decision that seemed to contradict Roe v. Wade but the court decided to not revisit any parts of Roe v. Wade after this case. The Missouri restrictions did not violate the right to privacy or the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The Court ruled that the states were forbidden from outlawing any aspect of abortion performed during the first trimester of pregnancy, could only enact abortion regulations reasonably related to maternal health in the second and third trimesters, and could enact abortion laws protecting the life of the fetus only in the third trimester (McBride). At the time Roe was decided, most states severely restricted or banned the practice of abortion. My thoughts on the abortion debate fall in between conservative and liberal views. I believe that women have aright to have an abortion under certain circumstances. If the mother needs an abortion to live it should be legal.