In 1969 Norma McCorvey from the state of Texas became pregnant. She already had two children and did not want a third and therefore decided to have an abortion. However, abortion in Texas was illegal unless the woman’s life was in danger.
Not willing to accept this situation, Norma McCorvey and her two attorneys decided to file a lawsuit at the US District Court in Northern Texas. They claimed that Texas’s abortion laws were against the US Constitution. A three-judge court decided in her favor, but the case was appealed to the highest federal court in the US – The Supreme Court. The appeal was accepted and January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court decided that they also found that denying women access to abortion was illegal based on a clause in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution stating “the right of privacy” to US citizens. Including a privacy and freedom to choose an abortion. The case has been referred to as Roe (Norma McCorvey did not use her real name) versus Wade (Wade was the district attorney representing Texas).
The Supreme Court ruling was legendary, and the immediate result was that abortion was given free overnight in all 50 American states. Suddenly women could decide for themselves, in consultation with medical advisers and within state abortion rules, if they wanted an abortion or not.
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