Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade was a lawsuit between Norma McCorvey (or Jane Roe in the case) and Henry Wade. In 1969, McCorvey sought out an abortion in Texas, a state that banned abortions unless the pregnancy threatened the woman's life. Wade, a district attorney in Dallas, was the recipient of McCorvey's lawsuit as his job required him to enforce the state's laws on abortion.

The lawsuit made it to the Supreme Court, with McCorvey arguing that "that Texas law was unconstitutionally vague and violated her constitutionally protected right to personal privacy" (PBS). In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court decided that abortion should be Constitutionally protected.

On Monday, May 2nd in 2022, Politico published a leak of a Supreme Court majority opinion draft that indicated they intend to repeal Roe v. Wade. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the draft, saying that "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start” (Politico). If the court holds its opinion, Roe v. Wade is expected to be repealed sometime this summer. Without Roe v. Wade, abortion would no longer be federally protected and guaranteed. 26 states are anticipated to ban or outlaw abortion following the decision, with no expectations for rape, incest, or potentially fatal pregnancy complications. This puts the women in each of these states in danger, specifically lower-income women of color, who are often unable to travel out of state to have the procedure completed. Protests have been staged across the nation, with women gathering in front of state court buildings to express their grievances with the decision.

Now more than ever, teaching comprehensive sex education in schools is necessary. Since abortion is not a guaranteed right for all Americans, schools must emphasize contraception and safe sex practices, as not all women will have the opinion to get an abortion if they get pregnant. Comprehensive sex education would better prepare women for a world that does not support their right to choose; all genders need to be knowledgeable about safe sex, or else the person pregnant will be forced to carry their child to term. As we have established, abstinence-only education does not lower the teen birth rate, but rather only delays the inevitable. This is incompatible with current events: women and those with uteruses everywhere deserve to be educated since they have lost bodily autonomy.