The history of Roe v. Wade is the story of a fundamental right gained and taken away.
In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was protected under the Constitution. Nearly 50 years later, that protection vanished. When the court overturned Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, many states already had abortion bans ready to take effect.
Even before Dobbs, abortion wasn’t accessible to everyone. Waiting periods, parental consent laws, and financial barriers made care impossible for millions, especially Black, Indigenous, and low-income people.
Abortion bans force people into risky, expensive decisions. More than 21% of people of reproductive age—disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and low-income—now live under abortion bans that took effect after Dobbs. The numbers keep climbing. In 2023, nearly 1 in 5 abortion patients had to leave their home state for care, up from 1 in 10 just a few years earlier.
Not everyone can afford to travel. Some order abortion pills online, despite legal threats, because a safe abortion at home is still safer than forced pregnancy. Groups like Aid Access are mailing pills to people in banned states, keeping abortion available where politicians want it erased.
To understand Roe v. Wade, we must look beyond court decisions. The fight over abortion started long before 1973 and continues in statehouses, courtrooms, and the lives of those forced to carry unwanted pregnancies.
Before Roe v. Wade: The Fight for Abortion Rights
Before the Supreme Court’s decision, nearly every state criminalized abortion. By the early 1900s, laws across the U.S. made abortion illegal in most circumstances, forcing pregnant people to seek underground, often unsafe procedures.
Wealthier women could sometimes find sympathetic doctors or travel to places where abortion was legal. Everyone else faced horrific risks. Hospital wards were filled with patients suffering from sepsis, hemorrhage, and other complications caused by unsafe abortions.
Despite the legal landscape, a growing reproductive rights movement challenged these laws. Activists built underground networks like the Jane Collective, which provided safe abortion care in Chicago. In the late 1960s, some states—including New York and California—began rolling back abortion restrictions.
In Texas, where abortion remained a crime, one woman decided to challenge the system.
Who Were Roe and Wade?
The case that would change history began with a woman named Norma McCorvey, known in legal filings as Jane Roe. In 1969, she was 22, pregnant, and struggling. Texas law banned abortion unless a doctor determined the pregnancy threatened the woman’s life. McCorvey wanted an abortion but couldn’t afford to travel to a state where it was legal.
She reached out to attorneys Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, who were looking for a plaintiff to challenge Texas’s abortion ban. They filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the Dallas County district attorney.
McCorvey never got an abortion because she’d already given birth by the time the case reached the Supreme Court. However, her legal battle changed the course of U.S. history.
The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Ruling
Roe v. Wade reached the Supreme Court in 1971 and was reargued in 1972. The central question: Did the Constitution protect the right to abortion?
Roe’s lawyers argued that abortion fell under the right to privacy, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. They also emphasized the harms of forcing people to carry pregnancies they did not want. Texas argued that the state had an interest in protecting fetal life. The state’s attorneys also claimed the Constitution did not explicitly mention abortion, meaning states should regulate it as they saw fit.
In a 7-2 decision, the Court sided with Roe. Writing for the majority, Justice Harry Blackmun ruled that abortion was protected under the right to privacy, which the Court had previously recognized in cases involving contraception.
The Trimester Framework
Roe vs. Wade created a trimester-based legal framework:
- First Trimester: In the first three months of pregnancy, Roe said the decision belonged entirely to the pregnant person and their doctor. No state had the right to interfere.
- Second Trimester: Starting in the fourth month, states were allowed to regulate abortion, but only for health reasons. They could require procedures to be performed in medical settings or impose safety standards on providers, but they couldn’t ban abortion outright. In reality, this is where anti-abortion politicians started restricting access, using bogus “health and safety” rules to shut down clinics.
- Third Trimester: Once a pregnancy reached viability (determined to be 24-28 weeks at the time), Roe let states ban abortion outright—unless continuing the pregnancy threatened the life or health of the pregnant person. This is where the anti-abortion movement started distorting the facts, claiming Roe allowed “abortion on demand up until birth.”
It wasn’t a perfect decision, but with this ruling, abortion became legal across the U.S. For the first time, millions gained access to safe abortion care.
Challenges to Roe v. Wade
Roe stood for nearly 50 years, but opponents never stopped trying to overturn it.
- Hyde Amendment (1976) — Blocked federal funding for abortion, making care inaccessible for people on Medicaid.
- Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) — Replaced Roe’s trimester framework with the “undue burden” standard. States could regulate abortion as long as restrictions did not create a substantial obstacle.
- State-Level Attacks — Many states passed waiting periods, parental consent laws, and clinic restrictions.
By the early 2000s, abortion rights had already eroded for low-income people and people of color, especially in the South and Midwest.
Dobbs v. Jackson: The Fall of Roe
The final blow came in 2022 when the Supreme Court heard Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The case challenged a Mississippi law banning abortion at 15 weeks—far earlier than Roe’s viability standard. Instead of merely upholding Mississippi’s law, the Supreme Court took a radical step: it overturned Roe entirely.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, claimed the U.S. Constitution did not protect abortion rights and that states could ban abortion altogether. This decision triggered immediate abortion bans in over a dozen states.
The Future of Reproductive Rights
The reproductive rights landscape today stands fractured. States like Texas and Tennessee now criminalize abortion entirely. Meanwhile, California and New York have strengthened abortion protections. Activists are challenging bans in courts, and some states are passing ballot measures to protect abortion rights.
People are still having abortions, but access depends on where they live. Some travel across the country for care. Others risk prosecution by ordering pills online.
The fight has shifted from the Supreme Court to state legislatures, courtrooms, and grassroots movements.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The history of Roe v. Wade is still being written. Laws, executive actions, and Supreme Court rulings can come and go, but abortion access has always depended on action. Clinics don’t stay open because courts protect them. They stay open because people fight to keep them running.
Even in states where abortion is banned, networks exist to help people get the care they need. Even as activists challenge bans in court, they provide travel assistance for those who must cross state lines and push for legal protections in every way possible.
If you believe in reproductive freedom, here’s what you can do:
- Support abortion funds that help people access care (National Network of Abortion Funds, Indigenous Women Rising, and state-based organizations).
- Follow the legal battles and vote in local elections—state lawmakers now have more control over abortion rights than ever before.
- Get involved with advocacy groups working to restore and expand reproductive rights.
- Have conversations about abortion access, breaking stigma, and misinformation.
The question now isn’t just what we lost. It’s what comes next and what we’re willing to do to regain power.
