Roe v. Wade was a 1973 landmark decision by the US Supreme Court that ruled that a state law that banned abortion was unconstitutional. The decision said that a woman's right to privacy extended to the fetus that she was carrying. The court viewed that during the first trimester, an abortion was no more dangerous than carrying the fetus to full term. The 7-2 decision was supported by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and six other Justices and was opposed by Justices William Rehnquist and Byron White.
The decision divided the United States and is still controversial. People became divided into pro-life and pro-choice groups. Pro-life supporters argue that the unborn baby has the same right to life as other people and that the government should intervene to protect it. Pro-choice supporters believe that the unborn baby is not the same as a person, that the woman has the right to choose what she wants to do with her body and that the government should not intervene.
Roe v. Wade was limited by a later decision, Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989), which allowed the regulation of abortion in some cases. Several states have considered laws banning abortions altogether.
In May 2022, a leaked draft of the Supreme Court's decision to overrule Roe v. Wade was published. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.