NO ABORTION!

 

Roe Versus Wade’s case of abortion in the US specifically in Texas has been the precedent since 1973. Jane Roe claimed she had all the rights to carry out an abortion but was not granted permission to because some laws were hindering her from terminating her pregnancy. Earlier on Friday 24th, 2022, the US supreme court ruled over the case and totally illegalized abortion saying there are no rights in the constitution that support abortion.

 Jane Roe’s case came about in 1969 when Roe got pregnant and wanted to terminate her pregnancy. She was however not allowed to terminate it. Abortion back then in Texas was illegal but could only be legal if it was for the purpose of saving the mother’s life. Jane Roe's reasons for wanting to terminate the pregnancy were that she was jobless, not married and she already had two children.

Jane Roe had her attorneys who filed a case to the US federal court on her behalf against her local district attorney Henry Wade who had denied Jane the right to abort saying that Texas abortion law was unconstitutional.

In 1973, the US Supreme court ruled in her favor indicating that the constitution provides a right to privacy, and with this, she won the case but the delay had already made her give birth. The Supreme court however added some other laws that would go hand with the first one. They included a TRIMESTER rule that split the whole pregnancy period into three cycles.

The rules indicated that in the first trimester, from month one to month three, the woman is allowed to abort and no prohibitions whatsoever would come their way. In the second trimester that is month four to month six the government required a legal and reasonable health regulation and in the third trimester which is months seven to nine the woman was not allowed to abort under any given condition.

The decision was not well accepted by the legal community as it got criticized a lot. With the critics in hand, the Supreme court decided to revisit the case in 1992 but reassured the fact that the woman’s decision to carry out an abortion is constitutionally protected. The Supreme Court however abandoned Roe’s trimester framework in favor of a standard based on fetal viability.

The final draft of the ruling on abortion leaked in June 2022 with presumptions that it would be overturned. The leak was not well absorbed as many US citizens boycotted in unison saying, “My body my choice”.

The ruling has now been made and many countries will get affected by the ruling. Kenya itself is among the affected countries. Some Kenyan lawyers have been using the Roe V Wade theory to present their arguments on abortion cases. An example is a case that took place in Malindi High Court on March 24th, 2022. A minor had undergone an abortion through a doctor. The lawyer that presented the two used Roe’s theory to argue in court. With the ruling at hand, it will mean that no more arguments will be directed in that direction.

 

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