Roe v. Wade was the landmark 1973 United States Supreme Court decision that recognized abortion as a constitutional right, overturning several state laws against abortion. It remains one of the most controversial decisions in Supreme Court history. The decision in Roe v. Wade has sparked a decades-long national debate over when abortion should be legal; the role of the Supreme Court in constitutional adjudication; and the role of religious views in the political sphere. Roe v. Wade became one of the most politically significant Supreme Court decisions in history, reshaping national politics, dividing the nation into "pro-choice" and "pro-life" camps, and inspiring grassroots activism. Roe sparked widespread opposition, from those who viewed the Court's decision as illegitimate for straying too far from the text and history of the Constitution, as well as from those motivated by religious and moral beliefs about the inviolability of fetal life. It also attracted widespread support, from those who view the decision as necessary to achieve women's equality and personal freedom.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1632: Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems)
1956: "Heartbreak Hotel" propelled Elvis Presley onto the music charts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley)
1979: Independence Day in Saint Lucia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucia)
1997: Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced that a sheep named Dolly had been cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_the_sheep)