In 1970, The New York Times writes that a woman named Norma McCorvey wanted to have an abortion. At the time, she resided in Texas and was five months pregnant with her third child. Per Al Jazeera, McCorvey was prohibited from receiving an abortion as Texas law stated that pregnancy must be life-threatening in order to end it. She subsequently sued Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County using the pseudonym Jane Roe (via Oyez). In her lawsuit, McCorvey claimed that her First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments rights had been violated by Texas law.
According to the BBC, McCorvey later gave birth and in 1973, the case made it to the Supreme Court. In a 7-2 ruling, it was decided that abortion was a protected right under the U.S. Constitution after all (per Al Jazeera). Moreover, the justices affirmed that although abortion is not specifically named in the Constitution, it was still protected, specifically, under the Ninth and Fourteenth amendments. As The New York Times explains, Roe v. Wade also established a trimester system.
Simply put, a woman has the right to an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy with little government interference. In the second trimester, there may be some government regulation due to health concerns. In the last trimester, states can prohibit abortions, unless the pregnancy is life-threatening to the woman. Politico reports that in 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey reaffirmed that abortion was a Constitutional right.
