Roe v. Wade was a landmark case decided by the United States Supreme Court in the 1970s. It struck down a Texas statute that had criminalized abortion, except on medical grounds to save the life of the mother. The case was brought by a woman known as Jane Roe, who argued that the Texas law was unconstitutional because it violated her right to privacy. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Roe, finding that the right to privacy protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution extended to a woman’s decision to have an abortion. The decision effectively legalized abortion throughout the United States and has been the subject of much controversy and legal debate ever since.
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