Roe v. Wade

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Harry A. Blackmun

A highly controversial issue

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Roe v. Wade: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

Kentucky lawmakers add specific medical exceptions to the state's near-total abortion ban • Mar. 13, 2025, 2:51 PM ET (AP)

Risks of state abortion reporting mandates outweigh the benefits, an advocacy group says • Mar. 12, 2025, 10:47 AM ET (AP)

Facts

Date	1973 - 2022
Location	United States

Did You Know?

Although by the early 1900s all U.S. states had outlawed abortion, these bans were rarely enforced until the late 1930s.
Texas law before Roe v. Wade prohibited abortion unless the mother's life was at stake.
Abortion restrictions were lifted in California and New York long before Roe v. Wade.
Abortion was not only legal but also not widely considered immoral in the 1700s and the early to mid-1800s in the United States. Only in the late 1800s did doctors and the Roman Catholic Church take a stand against it.
Griswold v. State of Connecticut, a case from 1965 that established the right to privacy when medical procedures were involved, served as a legal precedent for Roe v. Wade.

Photos

Harry A. Blackmun

A highly controversial issue

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Topics

Supreme Court of the United States abortion Fourteenth Amendment

Key People

Harry A. Blackmun

Harry A. Blackmun

United States jurist

Sarah Weddington

Sarah Weddington

American lawyer

Norma McCorvey and Gloria Allred

Norma McCorvey

American activist

Quiz

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