Roe v. Wade and Women's Rights

The Vietnam Era significantly impacted women throughout the late 20th century. The purpose of this paper is to inform people of women’s rights, especially the legalization of women’s abortions during the Roe v.

Wade court case. This paper allows individuals to have the ability to understand the significance of the effect women’s rights had throughout the world. The importance to understanding this research paper is that as a female, understanding the government and how it can influence a woman’s decision is very important.

Also, this paper explains how abortion was legalized and the reasoning behind people’s opinions. Even though there is the notion that the Supreme Court didn’t have a major effect over women’s rights during the Vietnam Era, the reality is that the Supreme Court had a huge impact of women’s rights especially women’s abortions. This was exemplified through the Roe v. Wade court case, the impact of the Roe v. Wade case, and the controversial nature of opinions of society. This case represents freedom through the ways in which it impacts our country as a whole and the ways it allows women to partake in what they believe in.

Role of Women in War

The Vietnam Era was a time period that produced a lot of tensions between the opinions of individuals over the women’s rights topic. During the Vietnam War, the American women noticed that the Vietnamese women were fighting in the Vietnam War along with the men.

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Women participating in revolutionary activity had a significant effect over the war. However, most American women were only allowed to participate in the war by volunteering and usually only as a nurse to the men soldiers. This became a “national liberation struggle” since most of the Vietnamese women had the ability to fight in this war, whereas a majority of American women were not given this right. Many American women became upset and began to voice their oppressed opinions and stand up for their beliefs to end the war.

The mid-1960s was a part of the baby boom generation. Women at this time were starting to voice their beliefs, but had little political power. While the men were going to college and getting a good education, young girls were expected to marry a good husband and have children. However, when women began the anti-war movement there arose feelings of women’s desire not to be solely dependent on men. Many women voiced frustration and upset because they believed men failed to end the war and create a peaceful society. This movement motivated the women and gave them the desire to contribute to a better society. It took a lot of courage for women to speak out and it was a real struggle for them to try and end sexism and focus on the equality of human rights.

Role of Women in Society

During the 1960s, there was a huge cultural change that was transforming the roles of women in American society. One of the most extreme changes was the fact that by the end of the 1960s after the federal government authorized birth control pills in 1960, 80% of all wives of childbearing age started taking contraception. Roe v. Wade was a revolutionary case which changed not only reality, but gave a new form of families. This allowed women who had unwanted pregnancies to have a lot more freedom and choices in their own personal lives. Cultural changes such as the exclusion of women from serving on juries and the permittance of women into the nation’s military service academics proved the Vietnam Era to be a tumultuous time period, one in which historians debate the overall impact on women’s rights. All of these changes helped the rights of women evolve over time. Throughout the 1960s, the Vietnam Era proved to be a time period in which government involvement largely infringed upon women’s rights, but revolutionary cases such as Roe v. Wade created promise for greater female liberties in the long-lasting future.

Roe v. Wade Case

To provide some background information on the landmark case, Jane Roe was a single women who lived in Dallas, Texas and was pregnant for a third time. Not wanting to bear her third child, Roe chose to have an abortion. However, the Texas state law was preventing her from getting the abortion, so she was forced to bear the child. “On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s decision to have an abortion” (Webley 1). Since the Texas state law was not allowing her in to have an abortion she had to give birth to the child, however Roe later gave it up for adoption. In favor of Roe, Texas ruled that the law had impeded her personal and constitutional right to privacy. According to the Guttmacher Institute, during the 1950s-1960s there was a range of about 200,000 to nearly 1.2 million illegal abortions per year. Since women didn’t have the right to get an abortion, they decided to still follow through with the abortion just illegally. Jane Roe even turned to getting an illegal abortion, except she was unsuccessful.

On the other hand, throughout the years from 1951 to 1987, Henry Wade was a Texas lawyer and he served as District Attorney of Dallas. Wade caused a lot of attention upon himself when he prosecuted Jack Ruby, Lee Harvey Oswald was the assign of John F. Kennedy and that was the man Jack killed. In 1970 Wade was then sued by Jane Roe who was trying to stop Wade from enforcing the state law that would forbid her abortion. Despite Wade’s efforts in 1973, the U.S. declared this law to be unconstitutional in the important 1973 case.

Roe v. Wade was a historical breaking point in 1973 due to the Supreme Court’s decision of establishing the nationwide legalization of women’s abortions. In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that protected by the privacy rights guaranteed to the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, women had the right to choose to have an abortion (Landmark Cases). As a result, the Court’s ruling impacted around 46 states, overturning previous laws criminalizing abortion. This decision gave women the total freedom of their pregnancy throughout their first trimester. However, during their second and third trimester there were different levels of state interest. Today, over 40 years later, Americans with a great degree support the conclusion of the Roe v. Wade case. Despite all of the protests against this case, Americans support the decision behind the court case and its lifting of restrictions, allowing women the right to choose. Before abortion became legalized, illegal abortions fabricated into a total of “one-sixth of all pregnancies” (Parenthood 2). With the permission of abortion in the United States, this has now transformed into being one of the safest medical procedures. All the women who choose to get an abortion will now receive full support from medical professionals.

There are a few states where abortions may be restricted in varying degrees. The Supreme Court had recognized the ways in which the U.S. Constitution assures an individual’s right to their own medical decision. Casey v. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt were two court cases that went against the legalization of women’s abortions made by Roe v. Wade (Parenthood 5). However, the Supreme Court’s decision did not falter from this principle. The continuation to attack women’s abortion access occurred from anti-women’s health legislatures. If Roe v. Wade overturned, there would currently be around 20 states that are waiting to ban the access to abortion which threatens access for more than 25 million women in the United States. These 20 states have influential politicians that are anti-abortion in power and also have a set history supporting abortion restrictions. On the other hand, “72% of the American population don’t want to see Roe v. Wade being overturned” (Parenthood 7). Roe v. Wade added more rights and opportunities for women which led to the (Why Roe v. Wade)

On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court announced the final decision to the Roe v. Wade court case over the question of a Texas act that criminalizing abortions. However, this case had a major impact on society. At the time of this case nearly every state prohibited abortion except to save a woman’s life, protecting a woman’s health, or special instances such as rape. The Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion affected 30 Supreme Court cases that opposed access to abortion. Due to this decision the health and lives of women and families across the United States have improved. In 1965, before abortion was legalized, 17% of all deaths of childbirth and pregnancy were due to the result of illegal abortions, but now it has been reduced 0.3% (Abort73 2). Hawaii, Alaska, New York, and Washington all abolished their ban to abortion between 1967-1973 (Obos Abortion Donors 5). However, with the legalization of abortions while the mothers remained healthier the amount of abortions increased dramatically.

Opinions on Abortions

The differences in opinion reflect basic beliefs. A numerous amount of people believe that life starts as an unborn child and this child deserves the equivalent amount of rights that an adult has. In the eyes of these individuals, killing an unborn child corresponds to murder. On the other hand, others dispute saying that life begins when your first born and how laws that go against abortion are interfering with the freedom and beliefs of women. People that disagree with the fact that abortion should become legalized like to call themselves “pro-life,” while, people who were for the restriction of abortion to be lifted call themselves “pro-choice.” Since the decision of the Roe v. Wade court case became final there were separations in society.

This decision has caused many divisions between society, when the decision was first publicly released there were multiple protests. People held up signs stating “the right to choose is the right to refuse” and signs like “keep abortion legal” or “abortion kills children” (Roe v. Wade Abortion). These signs express what every individual believes in and their own opinion on the court case. The opinions of society were very important, but had a little effect over the final decision that the Supreme Court made. This relates to what Justice Blackmun, the head judge, once said, “We … acknowledge our awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires.” (Roe v. Wade Abortion). According to Appendix A, the picture below is expressing the signs that were held during the protests that people were apart of during this revolutionary court case.