On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States
legalized abortion in the case of Roe v Wade. It was a dramatic
day for women’s rights and for the health of millions of women
who sought out abortion services. Prior to this decision,
abortion was illegal in most states. Despite that, many women
still desired to abort their pregnancies so they resorted to
dangerous and sometimes fatal “back alley abortions” performed
by less-than-qualified “doctors.” As a result, thousands of
women died from botched abortions and many more wound up in
their local emergency rooms with serious complications.
Ultimately, a few states like New York and California made
abortion legal and hundreds and thousands of women flocked to
those states to obtain safe, legal abortions. But this situation
obviously only benefited women who could afford to go to those
states. Many more women continued to suffer. Meanwhile, the
Texas state legislature had passed a very restrictive abortion
law and that law was challenged by a young wom