Which case recognized a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy under the constitutional right to privacy, later overruled by Dobbs?

Which case recognized a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy under the constitutional right to privacy, later overruled by Dobbs?

• A. Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022)
• B. Roe v. Wade (1973)
• C. Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)
• D. Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

Answer: (B)

The key idea being tested is how abortion rights have been treated as a privacy matter in the Supreme Court’s case law. In Roe v. Wade, the Court held that a woman has a constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy, grounded in the right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The ruling framed abortion as a liberty interest that the state cannot fully restrict in the early stages, though it allowed increasing state regulation as the pregnancy progresses. That decision was later refined by Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which kept the core notion that abortion is protected, but moved away from the trimester framework to an undue-burden standard for evaluating state regulations. Then, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Court overruled Roe and Casey, holding that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and returning the authority to regulate abortion to the states. So, the case that first recognized a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy under the constitutional right to privacy, which was later overruled by Dobbs, is Roe v. Wade. The other options involve different issues (for example, Abington School District v. Schempp concerns school prayers), or represent later stages of the abortion lineage (Casey) without being the original recognition.

The key idea being tested is how abortion rights have been treated as a privacy matter in the Supreme Court’s case law. In Roe v. Wade, the Court held that a woman has a constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy, grounded in the right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The ruling framed abortion as a liberty interest that the state cannot fully restrict in the early stages, though it allowed increasing state regulation as the pregnancy progresses.

That decision was later refined by Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which kept the core notion that abortion is protected, but moved away from the trimester framework to an undue-burden standard for evaluating state regulations. Then, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Court overruled Roe and Casey, holding that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and returning the authority to regulate abortion to the states.

So, the case that first recognized a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy under the constitutional right to privacy, which was later overruled by Dobbs, is Roe v. Wade. The other options involve different issues (for example, Abington School District v. Schempp concerns school prayers), or represent later stages of the abortion lineage (Casey) without being the original recognition.