What year was Roe v Wade?

Roe v Wade was on January 22, 1973. On that day in January, The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes a basic “right to privacy” that safeguards a pregnant woman’s right to an abortion.

The Court also designated abortion as a “fundamental right,” requiring courts to assess challenged abortion legislation under the “strict scrutiny” standard, the most demanding level of judicial review in the United States.

The case was initiated by Norma McCorvey, sometimes known as “Jane Roe,” who fell pregnant with her third child in 1969.

McCorvey desired an abortion, but she resided in Texas, where abortion was outlawed unless it was essential to save the mother’s life.

Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, her attorneys, filed a case in federal court on her behalf against her local district attorney, Henry Wade, contending that Texas’ abortion restrictions were unconstitutional.

Roe v. Wade reached the Supreme Court when both sides appealed in 1970 and the judges ruled in her favour in 1973.