Supreme Court case for abortion rights?

• A. Roe v Wade (1973)
• B. The Feminine Mystique
• C. NOW
• D. La Raza Unida

Answer: (A)

This question tests knowledge of the landmark Supreme Court case that established a constitutional right to abortion. In this 1973 decision, the Court held that a woman’s right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment extends to her decision to terminate a pregnancy. The ruling balanced this right against the states’ interests in protecting prenatal life and maternal health, introducing a framework that limited state regulation early in pregnancy, allowed more regulation in the middle period, and permitted restrictions after viability, with exceptions to protect the mother’s life or health.

This case is the most well-known federal decision on abortion rights because it created a nationwide precedent for abortion access for decades. It was later refined by Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which kept the essential idea that abortion rights exist but adjusted the standard for evaluating state restrictions. For historical context, it’s also important to know that Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (2022) overturned Roe and Casey, returning authority to regulate abortion to the states.