Roe v. Wade was the 1973 Supreme Court decision that recognized a constitutional right to end a pregnancy under the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection of personal liberty. It governed abortion law in the United States for nearly fifty years before the Court overturned it in 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, returning the authority to regulate abortion to individual state legislatures.
How the Case Reached the Supreme Court
The lawsuit began in 1970 in Dallas. Norma McCorvey, pregnant with her third child and unable to obtain an abortion legally in Texas, filed suit under the pseudonym “Jane Roe” with the help of attorneys Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington. The defendant was Henry Wade, the Dallas County District Attorney responsible for enforcing the state’s abortion laws.1Justia. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
Texas at the time made abortion a crime under Articles 1191 through 1194 and Article 1196 of its Penal Code. The only exception was to save the mother’s life. Nothing in the statute permitted abortion for rape, incest, or the pregnant person’s broader health, and providers faced two to five years in prison, doubled if the procedure was performed without the woman’s consent.2Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Opinion No. H-369
A federal district court in Texas ruled the statute unconstitutional under the Ninth Amendment but declined to block enforcement, so the laws stayed on the books.1Justia. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) That gap sent the case to the Supreme Court on appeal.
By the time the justices heard argument, McCorvey was no longer pregnant. The Court kept the case alive anyway, calling pregnancy a “classic justification” for an exception to mootness because it was “capable of repetition yet evading review”: a pregnancy ends long before any lawsuit about it can finish.3Oyez. Roe v. Wade
What the Court Decided
On January 22, 1973, the Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Roe. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion and grounded the right to abortion in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which forbids states from depriving anyone of liberty without fair legal process. The Court read “liberty” to include a right to privacy broad enough to cover the decision whether to end a pregnancy.3Oyez. Roe v. Wade Although the district court had relied on the Ninth Amendment, the Supreme Court anchored its holding in the Fourteenth.4Constitution Annotated. Abortion, Roe v. Wade, and Pre-Dobbs Doctrine
The opinion recognized that forcing someone to continue an unwanted pregnancy carried physical, psychological, and long-term consequences. But it also said the right was not absolute. It had to be weighed against two state interests that grow as pregnancy progresses: protecting the pregnant person’s health, and protecting the potential for human life.
The Trimester Framework
To reconcile those interests, the Court divided pregnancy into three stages with escalating state authority:
- During the first trimester, the decision belonged to the pregnant woman and her attending physician. States could not regulate or restrict abortion at this stage.3Oyez. Roe v. Wade
- During the second trimester, the state’s interest in maternal health became strong enough to justify regulations tied to procedural safety, such as facility standards or provider qualifications, but not an outright ban.
- After viability, generally in the third trimester, the state could regulate or prohibit abortion so long as exceptions existed for the life or health of the mother.1Justia. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
Viability was not a fixed calendar date. The Court placed it at roughly 24 to 28 weeks in 1973 and acknowledged medical advances could shift the line. This framework governed abortion law for the next nineteen years.
How Casey Modified Roe in 1992
In Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, a plurality opinion from Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and David Souter preserved what the Court called Roe’s “central holding” — that states cannot prohibit abortion before viability — but scrapped the trimester framework.5Justia. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992)
In its place the Court adopted the “undue burden” test. A state regulation was unconstitutional if it placed a “substantial obstacle” in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before viability. Regulations that fell short of that were permitted, even in early pregnancy, as long as they served a legitimate purpose.5Justia. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992)
Applying that standard, the Court upheld informed consent requirements, a 24-hour waiting period, parental consent for minors with a judicial bypass, and certain reporting rules. It struck down a spousal notification provision, finding it created a substantial obstacle for women in abusive marriages.5Justia. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992) Casey framed abortion litigation from 1992 until Roe was overturned.
How Dobbs Overturned Roe in 2022
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case involved Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act, which banned most abortions after fifteen weeks, well before viability, with narrow exceptions for medical emergencies and severe fetal abnormalities.6Supreme Court of the United States. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022) Under either Roe or Casey the law was unconstitutional, so the Court used the case to reexamine both.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Chief Justice John Roberts agreed the Mississippi law should be upheld but would not have overturned Roe. That split the vote to uphold the fifteen-week ban 6-3 and the vote to overrule Roe and Casey 5-4. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissented.7Oyez. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
The majority applied the test from Washington v. Glucksberg, which asks whether an asserted right is “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” and essential to “ordered liberty.” Surveying centuries of Anglo-American common law, the Court concluded that “an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973.” Because the Constitution does not mention abortion and the right lacked historical support by this measure, the Court held it was not protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.6Supreme Court of the United States. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022)
Where the Law Stands Now
With Dobbs, the constitutional protection Roe created disappeared, and each state now sets its own abortion policy. As of early 2026, thirteen states enforce near-total bans, and many others impose restrictions at various points in pregnancy. Nine states and the District of Columbia have no gestational limit. Several bans took effect within days of Dobbs because they were “trigger laws” written to activate the moment Roe fell.
Penalties for providers vary widely. Alabama’s law carries prison sentences of up to 99 years. Texas imposes civil fines of at least $100,000 per violation and separately allows private citizens to sue anyone who performs or aids an abortion for a minimum of $10,000 per violation.8Texas State Law Library. What Does the Texas Heartbeat Act Say About Abortions A procedure that is legal in one state can carry serious criminal or civil consequences a short drive across a border.
Voters have responded through state constitutions. Between 2022 and 2024, ballot measures protecting reproductive rights passed in California, Michigan, Vermont, Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, and Nevada, among others. Proposed restrictions were rejected in Kansas and Kentucky in 2022.9Ballotpedia. 2024 Abortion-Related Ballot Measures and State Context State ballot initiatives have become the main venue for the fight Roe once resolved at the federal level.