Across the country, many people have been outraged by the U.S Supreme Court’s recent decision in overturning Roe v. Wade, an almost 50 year precedent. In the Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization decision, the Court ruled that “the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.
Abortion was first legalized throughout the United States in 1973 after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Roe. Through a visual timeline, ABC News explains that Roe v. Wade was brought to the Supreme Court in 1971 when an unmarried pregnant woman, referred to as “Jane Roe” in court documents for anonymity purposes, challenged a state law in Texas that made it illegal for doctors to perform abortions, with the exception of life and death cases states began to have more inclusive abortion laws. Alabama and Massachusetts permitted abortions in the condition that a women’s physical health was at stake, while Mississippi only allowed it in the instance of rape or incest. To legally undergo the procedure, women would often travel to other states where abortions were permitted. A couple years later the Supreme Court legalized abortions in the United States.
