January 22 was the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that struck down the 1857 Texas statute that made abortion illegal except when the mother’s life was in danger.

In its 7-2 decision, the Court used the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution as its affirmative authority for overturning the statue.

Adopted in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was a response to another Supreme Court decision, Dred Scott v. Sanford; a decision which held that it was constitutionally sound to deny citizenship to African-Americans because they were legally defined as property-not Americans.

Under the Fourteenth Amendment, sec. 1, citizenship was defined as belonging to anyone either born or naturalized in the United States-and stated citizens were not to be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process.

In the Wade decision, the Court ruled that a person has the right to an abortion up until the pregnancy reaches a term in which the fetus can live outside of the uterus-with the use of life support.

The state of Texas has interpreted this to mean that an abortion is legal, in a clinic, up until week 15 of the pregnancy and then up until week 24 in an emergency room / hospital setting.

An abortion may only be performed past week 24 if a doctor can prove to the State of Texas that the mother’s life would be in danger should the pregnancy go to term.