St. Agnes Catholic Church

P[g_ 5 J[nu[ry 20, 2013
January 22, 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v Wade Supreme Court ruling which
legalized abortion during all nine months of pregnancy for virtually any reason. Sadly, 40 years later, most
Americans still don’t know the radical nature of this ruling imposed on our nation by the Court and they don’t
know the catastrophic impact it has had on our culture. Hence, this anniversary provides a great opportunity to
educate ourselves and our society on this subject.
What is Roe v. Wade?
40 Years of Roe v. Wade and Its Impact on Our Culture
It is the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe”)
said she was pregnant from rape and wanted an abortion. She sued a Texas district attorney (Henry Wade) to
prevent him from enforcing a Texas law banning abortion except to save the mother’s life. On January 22, 1973,
the Court decided this case, and a similar case (Doe v. Bolton) in which Sandra Cano (“Mary Doe”) challenged
Georgia’s abortion ban after being denied an abortion by a hospital review committee. The Court struck down both
state laws, thereby striking down similar laws in all the other states as well. Norma McCorvey later admitted
having lied about the rape. Horrified at these decisions’ impact, both she and Sandra Cano are now among those
urging their reversal.
What did Roe v. Wade do?
It said the right of privacy (not mentioned in the text of the Constitution) “is broad enough to encompass a
woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” The Justices ruled that a state may not restrict
abortion at all in the first three months of pregnancy. It may establish guidelines only to protect the mother’s health
during the second three months. After “viability,” when the unborn child could survive if delivered (which the
Court placed at 24 to 28 weeks of gestation), the state may prohibit abortion unless it is deemed necessary to
preserve the mother’s “life or health.”
Although this may appear to give states the authority to ban most post-viability abortions, in reality it does
no such thing. In the companion case Doe v. Bolton, which the Court said must be read together with Roe,
“health” was defined in the abortion context to include “all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial,
and the woman’s age—relevant to the well-being of the patient.” By this definition, abortion must be allowed in
the ninth month if the abortionist says it is needed to serve a woman’s emotional well-being, for example. Thus all
meaningful limits on abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy were discarded.
What is Roe’s impact on society?
Following Roe, abortions in the U.S. skyrocketed to well over a million a year, with one-fourth of all pregnancies
ending in abortion. According to public reports, there have been more than 55 million abortions since Roe and
some estimates put the total closer to 60 million. More than 90 percent of abortions are done for social or
economic reasons. Less than 2 percent are done as the result of rape, incest or to preserve the life of the mother.
Problems that some claimed Roe would alleviate—“unwanted” children, child abuse and abandonment, etc.—have
worsened. Many women have been maimed or killed by legal abortion. Many more women bear heavy emotional
scars from abortion, and increasingly they are making their stories public to warn other women (see
www.hopeafterabortion.org). Far from emancipating women, Roe has helped create the expectation that women
will resort to abortion—to “fit” into college and the workforce, and to free men from unwanted parental
responsibility. It has blocked progress toward a society that welcomes women with their children (see
www.feministsforlife.org).
What can you do about it?
Pray and fast that our nation will correct the injustice of legal abortion and rebuild a culture that respects and protects every human
life. Educate yourself and others. Great resources are available online at www.nebcathcon.org, old.usccb.org/prolife/issues/
abortion/roevwade/index.shtml, www.endroe.org,