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Roe v. Wade and the History of Abortion Regulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2021

Paul Benjamin Linton
Paul Benjamin Linton*
Affiliation:
Loyola University of Chicago Law School. Americans United for Life, Chicago, Illinois
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Extract

In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court held that “[the] right of privacy … founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty … is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” The Court acknowledged that “[t]he Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy.” Nevertheless, the Court held that a “right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution.” However, “only personal rights that can be deemed ‘fundamental’ or ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,’ … are included in this guarantee of personal privacy.”

Type
The Webster Amicus Curiae Briefs: Perspectives on the Abortion Controversy and the Role of the Supreme Court
Information
American Journal of Law & Medicine , Volume 15 , Issue 2-3 , 1989 , pp. 227 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics and Boston University 1989

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Footnotes

†

This is a summary of the brief entitled “Brief of Certain State Legislators as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellants.” The brief may be found at Congressional Information Service Microfiche, United States Supreme Court Records and Briefs, Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, Card No. 23.

References

1 410 U.S. 113 (1973).

2 Id. at 153.

3 Id. at 153.

4 Id. at 152.

5 Id. at 129.

6 Id. at 147-52.

7 Id. at 140-41.

8 Coke, E., Third Institute of the Laws of England 50 (1644)Google Scholar.

9 Id.

10 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of Encland* 198 (emphasis in original).

11 1 W. Blackstone at 126.

12 Byrn, , An American Tragedy: The Supreme Court On Abortion, 41 Fordham L. Rev. 807, 815-16 (1973)Google Scholar.

13 Id. at 816.

14 See, e.g, Abrams v. Foshee, 3 Iowa (Coles) 273, 278-80 (1856); Smith v. State, 33 Me. 48, 55 (1851); Commonwealth v. Parker, 50 Mass. (9 Met.) 263, 264-68 (1845); People v. Sessions, 58 Mich. 594, 596, 26 N.W. 291, 293 (1886); State v. Cooper, 22 N.J.L. 52, 53-58 (1849).

15 In addition to the cases cited in note 14 supra, may be added Smith v. Gaffard 31 Ala. 45, 51 (1857); State v. Reed, 45 Ark. 333, 334-36 (1885); Eggart v. State, 40 Fla. 527, 532, 25 So. 144, 145 (1898); Mitchell v. Commonwealth, 78 Ky. 204, 205-10 (1879); Commonwealth v. Bangs, 9 Mass. 386, 387 (1812); State v. Emerich, 13 Mo. App. 492, 495-98 (1883); Evans v. People, 49 N.Y. 86, 88 (1872).

16 See State v. Slagle, 83 N.C. 630, 632 (1880); Mills v. Commonwealth, 13 Pa. 630, 632- 33 (1850).

17 Lamb v. State, 67 Md. 524, 533, 10 A. 208, 208 (1887).

18 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 136 (1973).

19 Id. at 138-39.

20 The statutes are collected in Witherspoon, Reexamining Roe: Nineteenth-Century Abortion Statutes and the Fourteenth Amendment, 17 St. Mary's L.J. 29, 33 (1985)Google Scholar.

21 Id.

22 Roe, 410 U.S. at 153.

23 Id. at 174 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting).

24 Id. at 151-52.

25 Id. at 151 & n.48 (citing State v. Murphy, 27 N.J.L. 112, 114 (1858)).

26 See Destro, , Abortion and the Constitution: The Need for a Life-Protective Amendment, 63 Calif. L. Rev. 1250, 1273-74 (1975)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27 Trent v. State, 15 Ala. App. 485, 488, 73 So. 834, 836 (1916); Dougherty v. The People, 1 Colo. 514, 522-23 (1872); Passley v. State 194 Ga. 327, 329, 21 S.E.2d 230, 232 (1942); Nash v. Meyer, 54 Idaho 283, 301, 31 P.2d 273, 280 (1934); State v. Alcorn, 7 Idaho 599, 613- 14, 64 P. 1014, 1019 (1901); Joy v. Brown, 173 Kan. 833, 839-40, 252 P.2d 889, 893 (1953); State v. Miller, 90 Kan. 230, 233, 133 P. 878, 879 (1913); State v. Watson, 30 Kan. 281, 284, 1 P. 770, 771-72 (1883); Hans v. State, 147 Neb. 67, 72, 22 N.W.2d 385, 389 (1946), on rehearing 147 Neb. 730, 25 N.W.2d 35 (1946); State v. Siciliano, 21 N.J. 249, 257-58, 121 A.2d 490, 495 (1956); State v. Gedicke, 43 N.J.L. 86, 89-90, 96 (1881); State v. Hoover, 252 N.C. 133, 135, 113 S.E.2d 281, 283 (1960); State v. Tippie, 89 Ohio St. 35, 39-40, 105 N.E. 75, 77 (1913); Bowlan v. Lunsford, 176 Okla. 115, 117, 54 P.2d 666, 668 (1936); State v. Ausplund, 86 Ore. 121, 131-32, 167 P. 1019, 1022-23 (1917); State v. Howard, 32 Vt. 380, 399-401 (1859); Anderson v. Commonwealth, 190 Va. 665, 673, 58 S.E.2d 72, 75 (1950); Miller v. Bennett, 190 Va. 162, 169, 56 S.E.2d 217, 221 (1949); State v. Cox, 197 Wash. 67, 77, 84 P.2d 357, 361 (1938).

28 McClure v. State, 214 Ark. 159, 170, 215 S.W.2d 524, 530 (1949); Montgomery v. State, 80 Ind. 338, 345 (1881); State v. Moore, 25 Iowa 128, 131-32, 135-36 (1886); Abrams v. Foshee, 3 Iowa 274, 278 (1856); Smith v. State, 33 Me. 48, 57-59 (1851); Worthington v. State, 92 Md. 222, 237-38, 48 A. 335, 356-57 (1901); Lamb v. State, 67 Md. 524, 532-33, 10 A. 208 (1887); People v. Sessions, 58 Mich. 594, 595-96, 26 N.W. 291, 292-93 (1886); State v. Bassett, 26 N.M. 476, 480, 194 P. 867, 868 (1921); Bennett v. Hymers, 101 N.H. 483, 484-85, 147 A.2d 108, 109-110 (1958); State v. Crook, 16 Utah 212, 216-17, 51 P. 1091, 1093 (1898).

29 See Nelson v. Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc., 19 Ariz. App. 142, 144, 505 P.2d 580, 582 (1973); Cheaney v. State, 259 Ind. 138, 140-47, 285 N.E.2d 265, 267-70 (1972); Sasaki v. Commonwealth, 485 S.W.2d 897, 901-03 (Ky. 1972), vacated and remanded, 410 U.S. 951 (1973); Rodgers v. Danforth, 486 S.W.2d 258, 259 (Mo. 1972); Thompson v. State, 493 S.W.2d 913, 917-20 (Tex. Crim. App. 1971), vacated and remanded, 410 U.S. 950 (1973); State v. Munson, 86 S.D. 663, 201 N.W.2d 123 (1972), vacated and remanded, 410 U.S. 950 (1973).

30 Roe, 410 U.S. at 151.

31 Id.

32 Witherspoon, supra note 20, at 59 n.91.

33 State v. Farnam, 82 Ore. 211, 217, 161 P. 417, 419 (1916).

34 State v. Murphy, 27 N.J.L. 112, 114-15 (1858); Dunn v. People, 29 N.Y. 523, 527 (1864).

35 People v. Nixon, 42 Mich. App. 332, 343, 201 N.W.2d 635, 646 (1972) (J. Burns, concurring in part, dissenting in part).

36 Roe, 410 U.S. at 139.

37 Id.

38 Witherspoon, supra note 20, at 33 & n.15, 18, 19.

39 Id., at 35-36 & n. 12.

40 Id. at 36,

41 Id. at 36-38 & n.24.

42 Id.

43 Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 325 (1937).

44 Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494, 503 (1977) (majority opinion by Justice Powell).

45 Prior to Roe, no state allowed unrestricted abortion throughout pregnancy. See, e.g., Note, A Survey on the Present Statutory and Case Law on Abortion: The Contradictions and the Problems 1972 Univ. Ill. Law Forum 177, 179-82.

46 Roe, 410 U.S. at 174 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting) (quoting Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U.S. 97, 105 (1934)).