Roe v. Wade was a major Supreme Court decision on January 22, 1973, which ruled that state laws restricting abortion were unconstitutional. This decision has since become a central issue in political debates for both Democrats and Republicans.
However, in June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, marking a significant turning point for women’s reproductive rights in the US and prompting a substantial backlash from women’s rights and medical groups.
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Donald Trump frequently took credit for the 2022 verdict, which was facilitated by his appointment of three conservative judges to the Supreme Court. His victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election indicated that women’s abortion rights were less of a pivotal issue for voters than anticipated.
About Roe V. Wade Supreme Court ruling
In 1970, an American woman known as “Jane Roe”, a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey (to protect her identity), initiated a federal lawsuit against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas.
Roe claimed the absolute right to terminate a pregnancy at any time, which the Supreme Court did not entirely support. Instead, it sought to balance the right to privacy with the state’s interest in protecting the health of pregnant individuals and potential human life.
The Court set guidelines based on pregnancy trimesters and fetal viability (the ability of the fetus to survive outside the womb). During the first trimester, the state could not interfere with an individual’s decision to have an abortion.
In the second trimester, the state could regulate abortion procedures to protect health but could not ban abortions entirely. From the end of the second trimester, considered the point of viability, the state could regulate or ban abortions to protect health or preserve fetal viability, but it could not criminalise abortions necessary to protect the health or life of the pregnant individual.
Roe v. Wade faced many challenges after 1973, narrowing its scope but not overturning it. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) case, the Court ruled that restrictions on abortion before fetal viability are unconstitutional if they place an “undue burden” on individuals seeking abortions. In Gonzales v. Carhart (2007) case, the Court upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, banning a specific procedure.
In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) case, the Court struck down Texas laws that imposed strict standards on abortion clinics and doctors, referencing the Casey decision. Four years later, in June Medical Services v. Russo (2020), the Court invalidated a similar Louisiana law.
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Trump helped to overturn ruling
Overturning Roe V. Wade ruling was a central campaign promise that Trump successfully used to contest during the 2016 election.
Given the uproar following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Democrats anticipated that this issue would be significant in the 2024 election. Harris, therefore, centred much of her campaign around it.
“I think we all know this is a fight for freedom. This is a fight for freedom — the fundamental freedom to make decisions about one’s own body and not have their government tell them what they’re supposed to do.
”And now, in states across our nation, extremists have proposed and passed laws that criminalize doctors, punish women; laws that threaten doctors and nurses with prison time, even for life, simply for providing reproductive care; laws that make no exception for rape or incest, even reviving laws from the 1800s.
Trump however stated during his speech in April 2023 speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Gala in Washington, D.C., that he was proud to be “the most pro-life president” in U.S. history.
“We have to be strong and powerful. That’s why when I’m re-elected, I will continue to fight against the demented late-term abortionists in the Democrat Party who believe in unlimited abortion on demand and even executing babies after birth,”
Although Trump and his Republican aides were criticised for making sexist remarks about women, he tried to mitigate this by distancing himself from the notion of a federal abortion ban during the election campaign. He asserted that the decision on abortion laws should be left to individual states.
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“My view is now that we have abortion where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state,” Trump said.
Eventually Trump focused on garnering support from the working class by making economic policy the central theme of his campaign.
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