Essay - Roe v. Wade & Texas: from District Court to the...

Roe v. Wade & Texas: From District Court to the US Supreme ***** & Aftermath

Abstract: This work traces the history of Roe *****. Wade in an attempt to discuss the evolution ***** the case, its significance and lastly how it changed politics ***** law ***** ***** aftermath. The ***** will briefly trace the case, from inception to the Supreme Court and then ***** its significance, as well as the manner in which its aftermath has affected the politics and policy associated with the issue of abortion and o*****r "rights" issues as they occur on a st*****te by state and federal basis.

Roe v. Wade is probably the most recognized of all US Supreme Court rulings of the 20th century. Yet, few people are aware of the facts that precipitate ***** his*****ry ***** e*****olution. The case itself was demonstrative of a trend to develop litigation as a tool for social change, that followed Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. (Rubin, 1987, pp. 1-2) Yet, like ***** Supreme Court ***** Roe vs. Wade ***** required to pass through all subsequent courts in conjunction with the source of the law or question answered ***** raised in ***** *****. This means that the Roe *****. Wade began at the US District Court in Texas, where two enterprising *****torneys sought to challenge the pre-civil war ***** law making abortion illegal in every case with ***** only exception be*****g the imminent death of ***** mother.

During the early seventies, Texas women also played key roles in the landmark *****, Roe v. Wade, which struck down a state law that made all abortions illegal (except those necessary ***** save the life of the pregnant woman). Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, ***** Dallas *****yers, filed a legal action in March 1970 on behalf of "Jane *****" and all o*****r women "who were or might become pregnant and want to c*****sider all options." (Campbell, 2003, p. 440)

The initial ruling ***** the Texas District ***** was limited, as it did find in favor of the Plaintiff, (Roe) on grounds of the 9th Amendment, which states that individual ***** cannot usurp ***** not specifically addressed in ***** US Constitution, but refused to provide the required ********** that would s*****p Henry Wade, ***** local District Attorney ***** enforcing the earlier Texas statute.

*****, sparked by memories of her own experience "as a scared graduate student in 1967 in a dirty, dusty Mexican border t***** to have an abortion," argued the case twice before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in January 1973 that the Texas law violated a woman's constitutional right ***** privacy. The decision in Roe v. Wade proved to be more ***** an opening gun th***** a fin*****l vic*****ry in the battle for "reproductive freedom"—antiabortion *****ces have persuaded ***** legislature to prohibit abortion in the third trimester of a pregnancy and "right to life" conservatives insist ***** the Supreme ***** will overturn the decision in the near future—nevertheless, it symbolized greater control for women over their own