Does a Woman Have a Constitutional Right under the Ninth Amendment to Choose Whether to Bear a Child after Conception

Summarizes the decision by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Roe v. Wade. In reviewing a Texas statute that prohibited abortion except when the life of the mother was in danger, the court enumerated a fundamental right to choose whether to bear a child subject to limitations by compelling state interests. The author argues that this is in step with jurisprudence around the country as well as with the United States Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut, which held that fundamental rights presumed by our society exist despite not being specifically listed in the first eight amendments to the Constitution. The author cautions, however, that without a mandate to impede the prosecution of persons under this law, more must be done to clarify Texas’s abortion statutes.