There are lawyers whose names remain eternally associated with advances in society. This is the case of the American Sarah Weddington, who passed away on Monday at the age of 76. Almost fifty years ago, the then a young lawyer who was pleading the first case of her career had been at the origin of one of the most emblematic cases of American law, commonly known as Roe v. Wade. This today constitutes the basis of the right to abortion in the United States.
In 1973, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, another lawyer, sued a class action lawsuit on behalf of a pregnant woman challenging a law in the state of Texas that prohibited abortions. The case “Jane roe“- whose real name is Norma McCorvey – brought against the Dallas County Attorney, Henry Wade, finally arrives before the Supreme Court which rules in favor of the right to abortion.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees the right of women to have an abortion and that states cannot deprive them of it. In 1992, she specifies that this right is valid as long as the fetus is not “viable”, Ie around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The right to abortion in the United States is not guaranteed by federal law. It is therefore based on the Roe v. Wade, obtained by Sarah Weddington. This legal framework now appears threatened by the Supreme Court, which now has several anti-abortion judges appointed by former President Donald Trump. In early December, the country’s highest court refused to suspend a very restrictive abortion law passed by the state of Texas, but allowed federal courts to intervene against the text. Roe v. Wade “looks like a house on the edge of a beach that threatens to take water and collapse“, Warned Sarah Weddington in 1998.