What did the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade establish regarding abortion?

• A. Women have the right to choose an abortion during the first trimester.
• B. Abortion is illegal in all pregnancies.
• C. Abortion is allowed only after viability.
• D. The decision leaves abortion regulation entirely to the states.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is recognizing a constitutional right to privacy that protects a woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy. In Roe v. Wade, the Court held that during the first trimester, the state cannot ban or heavily regulate abortion, so a woman has the right to choose. The decision also laid out a trimester framework for how state interests could grow over time: in the second trimester the state can regulate abortion in ways tied to the health of the mother, and after viability the state may restrict or prohibit abortion except to protect the mother's life or health. This is why the correct understanding is that a woman has the right to choose an abortion in the first trimester. Note that later cases refined the framework, but Roe established the basic protection in early pregnancy.