"Was Roe v. Wade a sound legal decision?" That's the question comming to John Benedict at The Upbeat Conservative. The attorney's thoughts are: (although please note that this should not be taken as legal advice - Roe v. Wade has been upheld - in theory - by the courts - and if you need a lawyer, please consult with your own).
* The best answer is no. Roe v. Wade was decided based on a "right to privacy" which the United States Supreme Court hesitated to give a definite origin for and which, the Supreme court felt, led automatically to the "Right to an Abortion."
* To the extent the Supreme Court gave us the origin of the "Right to Privacy" it really gave two origins and left confusion over whether the second (the 9th amendment) was valid. The first was the fourtheent amendment, as discussed briefly below.
* Although the court favored the view that the right to privacy comes through the 14th amendment, it cited a hodgepodge of mismatched cases to support this. The first was a personal injury case (Union Pac. R. Co. v. Botsford) that mentioned no right to privacy and that examined whether a court could order a proceedure as opposed to whether a state could ban one. The second was Terry v. Ohio, a case involving a police officer pat-down of a suspect, and that case actually stood for the idea that state interference with privacy was acceptable under the circumstances. The third was Meyer v. Nebraska, which stood for the idea that parents may (generally) control their children's education - i.e. it gave parents special rights in raising their children, as opposed to the right to avoid having them in the first place. The final case, Griswold v. Connecticut, was itself wrongly decided and carried a powerful descent from one of the court's most liberal members, Justice Black. To read a fuller discussion of this issue, simply go to www.upbeatconservative.com as it will give you a full legal deconstruction of Roe v. Wade from a conservative but facts and research oriented perspective. The link will take you directly to the article on Roe. v Wade.