Controversial 1973 decision of the US Supreme Court announcing women’s constitutional right to an abortion based on the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy.

Adopting a much-criticized trimester analysis, the court struck down Texas’ at criminal abortion legislation (and, by inference, those of other states) outlawing all abortions except those necessary to save the mother’s life. The decision denounced as unconstitutional laws that restricted a woman’s right to an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy, but permitted states limited regulatory rights in the second trimester and allowed complete proscription of abortions in the third trimester, after the fetus reached viability.