To understand how abortion has impacted American life, we have to look at how it was handled by the Supreme Court (SCOTUS).
First we have Roe v. Wade from 1973, which invalidated many state and federal abortion laws and established a trimester framework for when abortions should be allowed or prohibited. The reasoning was based on the so-called “right to privacy” Griswold found in the 14th Amendment.
Next is Planned Parenthood v. Casey from 1992. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the “essential holding” of Roe, that there is a constitutional right to abortion, but abolished the trimester framework and replaced it with the “undue burden” standard.
In 2022, both Roe and Casey were overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which determined that abortion is, in fact, not a constitutional right and never was seen as a right until Roe.
