Case: Roe v. Wade

70-03690 | U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Filed Date: March 3, 1970

Closed Date: Feb. 26, 1973

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Case Summary

[This summary is temporary while we research the case.] In this case challenging Texas criminal abortion statutes, the Supreme Court held that there is a constitutional protection for abortion rights. The case’s holding was later modified in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), and it was subsequently overruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022). On March 3, 1970, Jane Roe filed a lawsuit against the District Attorney of Dallas County, Henry Wade, …

[This summary is temporary while we research the case.]

In this case challenging Texas criminal abortion statutes, the Supreme Court held that there is a constitutional protection for abortion rights. The case’s holding was later modified in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), and it was subsequently overruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022).

On March 3, 1970, Jane Roe filed a lawsuit against the District Attorney of Dallas County, Henry Wade, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. In her complaint, Roe alleged that she was unmarried and pregnant; that she wished to terminate her pregnancy by an abortion "performed by a competent, licensed physician, under safe, clinical conditions"; that she was unable to get a ‘"legal" abortion in Texas because her life did not appear to be threatened by the continuation of her pregnancy; and that she could not afford to travel to another jurisdiction in order to secure a legal abortion under safe conditions. Roe claimed that the Texas statutes were unconstitutionally vague and that they abridged her right of personal privacy, protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Represented by private counsel, Roe sought a declaratory judgment that the Texas criminal abortion statutes were unconstitutional on their face, and an injunction restraining the defendant from enforcing the statutes.

Additionally, on March 3, John and May Doe, a married couple, also filed a lawsuit against Wade in the Northern District of Texas. More details in this case are forthcoming.

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Summary Authors

Muiz Wani (5/2/2024)

Documents in the Clearinghouse

	Document
70-03690	Trial Court Docket	March 3, 1970	March 3, 1970 Docket
70-03691	Trial Court Docket Doe v. Wade	March 3, 1970	March 3, 1970 Docket
70-03690	Order by Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Convening a Statutory Three-Judge Court in CA-3-3690-B U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit	March 18, 1970	March 18, 1970 Order/Opinion
70-03690	Plaintiff-Intervenor Hallford's Original Complaint	March 23, 1970	March 23, 1970 Complaint
70-03690	Order of District Court Granting Application for Leave to Intervene	March 23, 1970	March 23, 1970 Order/Opinion
70-03691	Order by Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Convening a Statutory Three-Judge Court in CA-3-3691-C Doe v. Wade U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit	March 30, 1970	March 30, 1970 Order/Opinion
70-03690	Affidavit of Plaintiff-Intervenor James Hubert Hallford, M.D., in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment	April 20, 1970	April 20, 1970 Declaration/Affidavit
70-03691	Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint Doe v. Wade	April 22, 1970	April 22, 1970 Complaint
70-03690	Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint	April 22, 1970	April 22, 1970 Complaint
70-03690 70-03691	Affidavit of Jane Roe in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment	May 21, 1970	May 21, 1970 Declaration/Affidavit

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Docket

Last updated March 29, 2024, 3 a.m.

Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.

Case Details

State / Territory:

Texas

Case Type(s):

Healthcare Access and Reproductive Issues

Special Collection(s):

Featured Historical Cases

Key Dates

Filing Date: March 3, 1970

Closing Date: Feb. 26, 1973

Case Ongoing: No

Plaintiffs

Plaintiff Description:

Norma McCorvey—under the legal pseudonym "Jane Roe"—who, in 1969, became pregnant with her third child and James H. Hallford, a physician who was in the process of being prosecuted for performing two abortions.

Plaintiff Type(s):

Private Plaintiff

Public Interest Lawyer: No

Filed Pro Se: No

Class Action Sought: No

Class Action Outcome: Not sought

Defendants

State

Texas

Defendant Type(s):

Jurisdiction-wide

Law-enforcement