Parental Involvement in Minor Abortions; Making the Ultimate Choice

In the 1800’s and early 1900’s, women were on the backend of the political system in the U.S. Women’s rights were very limited across the country, and the limitations of these rights were considered a norm [1]. In the 1960’s, a Texas woman named Sarah Weddington, saw firsthand the struggle that women in her generation faced. She faced a lot of discriminations both in her college years and during her search for employment with some law firms although she graduated in the top quarter of her class. In 1969, she finally joined a group of friends on a Referral Project [1]. Around that same time, Abortion was illegal in Texas and it was only permitted if the mental health of the woman was impaired. This law forced many women who wanted an abortion out of Texas to other states. Sarah and her friends, with their Referral Project, helped women who wanted to have safer abortions to find better ways and means of getting it done. However, because most of these women were poor and did not have the means, they opted to have illegal abortions. Sarah witnessed the distress and agony that women in this era went through in an attempt to have an abortion. She and her friends who worked on their Referral Project in a quest to fight for the rights of these women decided to present a case in court. However, with little experience after graduating from law school, she was very hesitant, but she knew she would be one of the few that could bring about this change. In 1970, she filed two cases with the federal court pleading for an amendment and/ or a repeal of the illegality of abortion in Texas [1]. She chose to present her cases in a Federal court instead of a court in Texas or any other state because abortion was deemed illegal in Texas and many of these other states at that time. She argued that women had the right to privacy according to the ninth amendment and how the laws presented in Texas were so vague and therefore making it hard to interpret [1]. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court changed the abortion landscape in the United States by giving constitutional sanction to a woman’s right to abortion [1]. This success could be attributed to the hard work of Sarah Weddington.