Roe v. Wade

Prior to this past Monday night, I thought I knew all there was to know about Roe v. Wade. A woman under the alias Jane Roe wanted to get an abortion at a time when it was outlawed, so she went to court and got the law overturned. Although in essence that was correct, it was a very superficial outlook on the story. I had no idea about the preceding cases that led to the ruling of Roe v. Wade like Skinner v. Oklahoma, or Griswold v. Connecticut. These two cases set into place the idea that everyone is entitled to privacy and that whatever is going on with your body is yours and only yours to deal with. In the case of Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court ruled that Connecticut’s ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy. The United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Skinner v. Oklahoma that laws permitting the compulsory sterilization of criminals were unconstitutional if the sterilization law treats similar crimes differently. Without these cases before Roe v. Wade, Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe)’s lawyer would have not had as much strength for her argument. I was always under the impression that I was indifferent to the cause; I never really cared. But in answering the simple questions posed to us by Mr. Doggett, I realized that my beliefs have always been pro-choice. Pro-choice isn’t pro-abortion but I never saw it that way because of the way my religion and the way many right wings make it seem. I see now that privacy is extremely important and a god given right.