# Canonical recap data for Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision (1973)
# Source: https://recap.at/1973/roe-v-wade
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: roe-v-wade
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1973/roe-v-wade"
title: Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision
aliases:
- 410 U.S. 113
- The Abortion Decision
- Roe Decision
subtitle: The Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in a landmark ruling that polarized American society for fifty years and became the pivot of U.S. cultural and political divides.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1973-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1973
decade: 1970
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right of pregnant women to choose to have an abortion before the point of fetal viability. The decision struck down many state abortion laws, and it spark
summaryLong: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right of pregnant women to choose to have an abortion before the point of fetal viability. The decision struck down many state abortion laws, and it sparked an ongoing abortion debate in the United States about whether, or to what extent, abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, and what the role of moral and religious views in the political sphere should be. The decision also shaped debate concerning which methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication. Amid years of sustained opposition from the anti-abortion movement and many legal conservatives, the Supreme Court overruled Roe in 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
lede: On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Constitution protected a woman's right to abortion before fetal viability, striking down abortion bans across nearly every state. The decision, written by Justice Harry Blackmun, became one of the most consequential and divisive rulings in American legal history.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Burger_Court_in_1976.jpg/1280px-Burger_Court_in_1976.jpg"
heroImageCredit: US Supreme Court · via Wikipedia
importance: 86
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Vote
  value: 7-2 majority
- label: Opinion Author
  value: Justice Harry Blackmun
- label: Decision Date
  value: January 22, 1973
- label: Case Citation
  value: Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113
- label: Viability Standard
  value: Third trimester (approximately 24-28 weeks)
- label: States Affected
  value: 46 states had abortion bans or restrictions struck down
- label: Trimester Framework
  value: Three-part test governing state regulation at different pregnancy stages
- label: Lifetime Before Reversal
  value: 49 years (overturned June 24, 2022)
timeline:
- date: 1970-03-17
  title: Roe v. Wade Case Filed
  description: Jane Roe (pseudonym for Norma McCorvey) filed suit in federal court in Texas challenging the constitutionality of the state's abortion ban.
- date: 1971-12-13
  title: First Supreme Court Argument
  description: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Roe v. Wade on December 13, 1971. A second round of arguments occurred on October 11, 1972.
- date: 1973-01-22
  title: Decision Issued
  description: The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Constitution protects the right to abortion before fetal viability. Justice Blackmun's majority opinion established the trimester framework, allowing states to regulate abortion differently in each trimester.
- date: 1973-01-22
  title: Companion Case Doe v. Bolton
  description: On the same day, the Court decided Doe v. Bolton, striking down Georgia's restrictive abortion statute and expanding the definition of health exceptions.
- date: 1976-06-30
  title: Planned Parenthood v. Danforth
  description: The Court upheld certain state regulations (waiting periods, parental consent) while preserving core abortion access, beginning a pattern of permitting restrictions.
- date: 1989-07-03
  title: Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
  description: The Court upheld Missouri's restrictions including a viability test, signaling willingness to limit Roe's scope. Chief Justice Rehnquist signaled openness to overruling Roe entirely.
- date: 1992-06-29
  title: Planned Parenthood v. Casey
  description: The Court reaffirmed the central holding of Roe but replaced the trimester framework with the 'undue burden' standard, permitting broader state restrictions including waiting periods and parental notification.
- date: 2007-04-18
  title: Gonzales v. Carhart
  description: The Court upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, the first federal abortion restriction since Roe, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing that some abortion procedures could be prohibited based on moral objections.
- date: 2022-06-24
  title: Dobbs Decision Overturns Roe
  description: In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Court overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, returning abortion regulation to individual states. The 6-3 decision held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade"
  title: Roe v. Wade
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Roe v. Wade centralized abortion access under federal constitutional protection for nearly 50 years, reshaping American reproductive law, electoral politics, and social movements across the ideological spectrum. The decision immediately catalyzed a sustained backlash that would define political coalitions, judicial appointments, and state legislative agendas for decades. Its eventual reversal in 2022 returned abortion regulation to individual states, triggering a new wave of legal fragmentation.
categories:
- election
taxonomy:
domain: political
eventTypes:
- constitutional_reform
canonicalClasses:
- governance
- transformation
- conflict
impactRadius: national
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: Supreme Court ruling that made abortion a constitutional right before fetal viability, striking down state bans across the U.S.
wikidataQid: Q300950
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The New York Times
  publisherSlug: the-new-york-times
  headline: Supreme Court Rules Abortion is a Constitutional Right in First Trimester
  publishedAt: 1973-01-23
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archive.nytimes.com
  excerpt: In a sweeping decision that will reshape abortion law across America, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Constitution protects a woman's right to terminate pregnancy before fetal viability. The landmark ruling invalidates abortion bans in 46 states.
  significance: 90
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: The Washington Post
  publisherSlug: the-washington-post
  headline: Court Legalizes Abortion Nationwide; States Lose Power to Ban Procedure
  publishedAt: 1973-01-23
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - washingtonpost.com
  excerpt: The Supreme Court's decision to strike down state abortion restrictions marks a historic assertion of individual liberty and represents the most significant expansion of reproductive rights in modern American jurisprudence. Justice Harry Blackmun authored the majority opinion.
  significance: 90
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: TIME Magazine
  publisherSlug: time-magazine
  headline: "The Great Abortion Debate: Court Settles It - For Now"
  publishedAt: 1973-02-05
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - time.com
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - TIME's cover story examines the seismic implications of the Court's three-trimester framework and the fierce backlash already building among religious conservatives and state legislatures determined to challenge the ruling.
  significance: 85
  type: magazine
  region: United States
- publisher: BBC
  publisherSlug: bbc
  headline: America's Supreme Court Legalises Abortion in Historic Ruling
  publishedAt: 1973-01-23
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - bbc.co.uk
  excerpt: The United States Supreme Court has ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion, overturning decades of state-level prohibitions. The decision sends shockwaves through American society and raises questions about how Britain's own abortion framework compares.
  significance: 75
  type: tv
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: Der Spiegel
  publisherSlug: der-spiegel
  headline: "USA: Oberster Gerichtshof legalisiert Abtreibung / U.S. Supreme Court Legalizes Abortion"
  publishedAt: 1973-02-01
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - spiegel.de
  excerpt: "DE: 'Der Oberste Gerichtshof der USA hat entschieden, dass Frauen das Recht auf Abtreibung haben.' / EN: Germany's leading news weekly reports on the American Supreme Court's abortion decision, contrasting it with West Germany's own restrictive laws and sparking debate among European policymakers."
  significance: 70
  type: magazine
  region: West Germany
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260608135358/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-08
  label: Roe v. Wade
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade"
