Do You Know Roe and Doe?

Details: 14 December 2012

Between now and the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade (January 22) I will be exposing the radical reality of this U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide during all nine months of pregnancy for virtually any reason. I will also expose the tragic outcome of this ruling and make the case against abortion based on science and reason.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Roe v. Wade January 22, 1973. The Court case was prompted by a challenge to Texas law which prohibited abortion except in cases where a mother’s life was endangered. Norma McCorvey ("Jane Roe") falsely claimed that she was pregnant from rape and was being denied an abortion because of Texas’ law.

On the same day, the Court announced its decision on another abortion case know as Doe v. Bolton. Sandra Cano ("Jane Doe"), a Georgia woman, was denied an abortion by a hospital review committee and subsequently challenged Georgia’s abortion law. The Court struck down both state laws and along with them the abortion laws in every other state as well.

Although Roe got all the attention, Doe contributed at least one critical aspect to the radical nature of the Court’s abortion ruling. First, here is what the Court said in Roe: The right of privacy (not mentioned in the text of the Constitution) "is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."

Dividing the nine months of pregnancy into three "trimesters" the Court said that a state may not restrict abortion at all in the first trimester. In the second trimester the Court said that States may establish guidelines on abortion but only to protect the mother’s health. In the last trimester, the Court said states may prohibit abortion unless it is sought to preserve a mother’s "life or health."

Strangely, the Court did not define the nebulous term "health" in Roe, it defined the term in Doe v. Bolton, a case that is unknown to most people. "Health" was defined for third trimester abortions as encompassing "all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age—relevant to the well-being of the patient."

This definition of "health," obviously, provides an exception so big that it swallows the rule. As a result, abortions must be allowed even in the ninth month if an abortionist says it is necessary, for example, for a woman’s emotional well-being. In other words, there are no meaningful limits on abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

In 1992, the Supreme Court issued another consequential abortion ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In this case, the Court was asked to rule on the Constitutionality of several abortion restrictions enacted by the State of Pennsylvania (whose Governor at the time was Bob Casey).

In addition to ruling on the Pennsylvania law, the Court took the opportunity to reconsider the original Roe and Doe rulings. In the end, the Court reaffirmed the central holding in Roe that no abortion could be banned before viability and post-viability abortions must be allowed if a woman’s life or "health" is endangered.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Court’s reaffirmation of Roe was that it didn’t really defend Roe as being constitutionally sound. Instead, one of the key reasons the Court cited in Casey for reaffirming Roe was this:

"Roe… could not be repudiated without serious inequity to people who, for two decades of economic and social developments, have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail."

What an indictment on our society that the highest Court in our land decided to perpetuate the mass slaughter of unborn children through abortion largely because our society has come to rely upon abortion as a back-up to birth control failure.

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.