U.S. Supreme Court declares nationwide constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade decision 50 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Jan 22 1973)

1970s


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(Monday, January 22, 1973, morning EST) — In Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 7 to 2 today to overturn individual state bans on a woman’s right to an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy, concluding that such bans deprive a woman of fundamental liberty without due process of the law contrary to the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In a historic resolution of a fiercely controversial issue, the Court drafted a new set of national guidelines that would result in broadly liberalized anti-abortion laws in 46 states but will not abolish restrictions altogether.


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Establishing an unusually detailed timetable for the relative legal rights of pregnant women and the states that would control their acts, the majority specified the following:

  • For the first three months of pregnancy, the decision to have an abortion lies with the woman and her doctor, and the state’s interest in her welfare is not “compelling” enough to warrant any interference. 
  • For the next six months of pregnancy, a state may “regulate the abortion procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health,” such as licensing and regulating the persons and facilities involved.
  • For the last 10 weeks of pregnancy, the period during which the fetus is judged to be capable of surviving if born, any state may prohibit abortions, if it wishes, except where they may be necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.

The Texas case had been consolidated with the lesser-known Georgia case of Doe v. Bolton.


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Justices Byron R. White and William H. Rehnquist dissented, while Harry A. Blackmun was joined in the majority opinion by fellow justices William O. Douglas, William J. Brennan Jr., Potter Stewart, Thurgood Marshall, Lewis F. Powell Jr., and Chief Justice Warren Burger.

For nearly half a century afterward, a division between “pro-life” and “pro-choice” positions on abortion would continue with challenges until the overruling of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.