WEBVTT - How Did Roe v Wade Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren vogebam here. The United States Supreme Court

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<v Speaker 1>recently overturned its N three decision in Roe v. Wade,

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<v Speaker 1>thus ending national rights to access some types of abortions.

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<v Speaker 1>This news has kicked off protests and calls to codify

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<v Speaker 1>abortion access in law across the country. Today, let's look

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<v Speaker 1>at the case of Roe v. Wade, what it decided

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<v Speaker 1>and how it was overturned. Jane Rowe was a pseudonym

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<v Speaker 1>for Norma McCorvey, a pregnant single woman in Texas who

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<v Speaker 1>was unable to get an abortion because state law barred

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<v Speaker 1>abortion in most instances except when a woman's life was

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<v Speaker 1>at risk. McCorvey's life was not in danger, but she

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<v Speaker 1>also couldn't afford to travel outside of Texas to have

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<v Speaker 1>an abortion. She claimed that the Texas law violated her

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<v Speaker 1>constitutional right to privacy. The Wade in the case refers

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<v Speaker 1>to Henry Wade, a Dallas County District attorney. Rowe, who

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<v Speaker 1>remained anonymous throughout the lawsuit was joined by a Texas

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<v Speaker 1>physician who argued that the laws were too vague for

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<v Speaker 1>care providers to follow. Previously, he had been arrested for

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<v Speaker 1>violating the laws. The lawsuit argued that Rowe had a

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<v Speaker 1>right to obtain an abortion. A federal court in Texas

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<v Speaker 1>agreed with her, ruling that the Texas ban was unconstitutional,

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<v Speaker 1>but once the case reached the Supreme Court, the issues

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<v Speaker 1>involved seemed so complex that the court actually had both

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<v Speaker 1>sides present arguments twice, in December of nineteen seventy one

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<v Speaker 1>and again in October of nineteen seventy two. The Court

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<v Speaker 1>reviewed the case for two full years, weighing biological, ethical,

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<v Speaker 1>and religious arguments in addition to constitutional issues. Ultimately, the

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<v Speaker 1>justices ruled seven to two in favor of Row. All

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<v Speaker 1>the justice as were men. The first woman wouldn't be

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<v Speaker 1>appointed to the Supreme Court until Sandra Day O'Connor began

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<v Speaker 1>serving almost a decade later. In four Roe v. Wade,

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<v Speaker 1>Justice Harry Blackman wrote the majority opinion, which argued that

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<v Speaker 1>five of the constitutional amendments combined to create a zone

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<v Speaker 1>of privacy around certain personal decisions like marriage and contraception,

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<v Speaker 1>and that banning all abortions violated that right to make

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<v Speaker 1>a personal and private decision about whether or not to

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<v Speaker 1>have a child. Those amendments that he referenced were the

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<v Speaker 1>First Amendment, which guarantees personal freedoms, the fourth, which protects

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<v Speaker 1>citizens from unreasonable surge and seizure, the fifth, which guarantees

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<v Speaker 1>due process of the law before any citizen may be

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<v Speaker 1>deprived of life or liberty, the ninth, which specifically doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>limit a person's rights to what's in the Constitution, and

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<v Speaker 1>the fourteenth, which prevents individual states from infringing on American

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<v Speaker 1>citizens rights to due process and their stuff like equal

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<v Speaker 1>protection under the law. However, Blackman also wrote that the

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<v Speaker 1>right to privacy had to be balanced with the government's

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<v Speaker 1>interest in protecting potential human life, and to strike that balance,

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<v Speaker 1>the Court decided that it was up to a woman

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<v Speaker 1>and her doctor to choose whether or not to do

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<v Speaker 1>an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. This barred

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<v Speaker 1>states from provoking a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy

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<v Speaker 1>in the first trimester for any reason. In the second trimester,

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<v Speaker 1>states had the authority to regulate abortions. During the third trimester,

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<v Speaker 1>a once a fetus reached the point of viability, that is,

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<v Speaker 1>the ability to survive outside of the womb, the state

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<v Speaker 1>could restrict or ban abortion, except in instances where it

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<v Speaker 1>was necessary to protect a woman's life and health. Because

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<v Speaker 1>the case took years to decide. Before the verdict came down,

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<v Speaker 1>mccorby gave birth and put her child up for adoption.

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<v Speaker 1>She later changed her views on abortion and joined the

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<v Speaker 1>pro life side, though in a documentary released mccorby says

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<v Speaker 1>she only did so for the money. She died before

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<v Speaker 1>the documentary was released in but back to the court

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<v Speaker 1>in a second Supreme Court decision, a Planned Parenthood of

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<v Speaker 1>Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, narrowly upheld Row by a five

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<v Speaker 1>to four decision, but the court also scrapped the trimester

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<v Speaker 1>framework and found that legal restrictions on abortion were acceptable

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<v Speaker 1>as long as they didn't place an undue burden upon women.

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<v Speaker 1>Rowe remained the law of the land for nearly half

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<v Speaker 1>a century, but the balance of the Supreme Court began

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<v Speaker 1>to change when Senate Republicans blocked Democratic President Barack Obama's

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<v Speaker 1>nomination of Merrick Garland to the Court and held open

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<v Speaker 1>the seat, thus enabling Obama's successor, Republican Donald Trump, to

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<v Speaker 1>dominate Neil Gorrish for the seat. In republic Kins approved

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<v Speaker 1>to other Trump appointees, giving conservatives a six to three

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<v Speaker 1>control of the Court. Then, in early May of two,

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<v Speaker 1>a leaked draft of an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito

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<v Speaker 1>in a case called Dabbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

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<v Speaker 1>indicated that this conservative majority was ready to overturn Roe

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<v Speaker 1>and Casey. This new case concerned Mississippi's ban on abortion

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<v Speaker 1>after fifteen weeks. Dabbs is the name of a state

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<v Speaker 1>health officer. Two months after the leaked draft, on June two,

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<v Speaker 1>the Court officially affirmed Mississippi's ban on abortion by a

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<v Speaker 1>six to three vote in the Dabbs case, and it

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<v Speaker 1>furthermore overturned Row by narrower five to four margin. Justice Alito,

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<v Speaker 1>writing on behalf of Justice's Gorge Clarence Thomas, Brett Covana

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<v Speaker 1>and Amy Coney Barrett, found that Rowe had been quote

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<v Speaker 1>egregiously wrong and deeply damaging, and that abortion was not

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<v Speaker 1>to right protected either explicitly or implicitly in the Constitution.

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<v Speaker 1>That due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, he wrote,

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<v Speaker 1>has been held to guarantee some rights that are not

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<v Speaker 1>mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right must be

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<v Speaker 1>deeply rooted in this nation's history and tradition. And implicit

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<v Speaker 1>in the concept of ordered liberty. The right to abortion

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<v Speaker 1>does not fall within this category. Whether that's historically correct

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<v Speaker 1>is a matter of research that's out of the scope

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<v Speaker 1>of this episode. Because our understanding of the human body

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<v Speaker 1>and reproduction has advanced so much in the past few

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<v Speaker 1>hundred years. We only started to understand how sperm and eggs,

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<v Speaker 1>and conception and the growth of a baby all work

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<v Speaker 1>when researchers first proposed cell theory in the late eighteen thirties,

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<v Speaker 1>a full fifty years after the Constitution was written. But

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<v Speaker 1>this ruling means that each state can set its own

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<v Speaker 1>abortion laws, and almost half the states in the Union

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<v Speaker 1>are likely to restrict or outlaw abortion under their current

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<v Speaker 1>elected officials. The end of Row has provoked a political firestorm,

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<v Speaker 1>but it could be just the start of an even

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<v Speaker 1>more bitter battle. Justice Thomas, in his concurring opinion, indicated

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<v Speaker 1>that the Court should use their reasoning from Dabbs to

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<v Speaker 1>re examine other precedents, including the right to access contraception

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<v Speaker 1>from Griswold v. Connecticut, the freedom to engage in consensual

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<v Speaker 1>sexual intimacy from Lawrence v. Texas, and the right to

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<v Speaker 1>same sex marriage from a Burghafel v. Hodges. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>is based on the articles you know these seven Supreme

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<v Speaker 1>Court cases by name, But what did they decide? Written

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<v Speaker 1>by Dave Rus and Thirteen Overturned Supreme Court Cases written

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<v Speaker 1>by Ed Grebanowski and Melanie red Seki McManus, both appearing

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<v Speaker 1>on House to works dot Com. The brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com and is produced by Tyler klang F. More

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