''United States v. Vuitch'', 402 U.S. 62 (1971), was a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
rights case, which held that the District of Columbia's abortion law banning the practice except when necessary for the health or life of the woman was not unconstitutionally vague.
[.]
Background
Milan Vuitch, an abortion provider in the District of Columbia, had several times come under suit for providing abortion services that the government deemed not necessary for the life or health of the woman, as required by the DC law. Vuitch challenged the law as being unconstitutionally vague with regard to the term "health;" the law did not define health in terms that would allow doctors to determine if their actions had broken the law. Federal District Judge
Gerhard A. Gesell agreed, dismissing Vuitch's indictment and ruling that the law failed to give the sufficient certainty required by due process of law in criminal matters. Gesell's finding was the first federal court decision declaring an abortion law unconstitutional.
[Greenhouse, Linda. ''Becoming Justice Blackmun''. Times Books. 2005. Page 75.]
The United States appealed the decision directly to the Supreme Court.
Decision
There were two questions before the court: firstly, whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to decide the case, and secondly, whether the D.C. law was unconstitutionally vague. On the first question,
Justice Black, joined by
Burger,
Douglas
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,
Stewart, and
Byron White
Byron "Whizzer" Raymond White (June 8, 1917 April 15, 2002) was an American professional football player and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1962 until his retirement in 1993.
Born and raised in Colo ...
, held that they could. On the second question,
Harlan and
Blackmun, although dissenting in jurisdiction, joined Black on the merits, while Douglas and Stewart joined
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and
Marshall
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in dissent.
On the merits, Black held that "health" was not vague, since lower courts had construed it fairly concretely to mean physical as well as psychological health. Although this was the final (as well as the first) abortion case prior to ''
Roe
Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...
'', only Justice Douglas, writing in dissent, suggested the existence of a general right to abortion as part of a broader right to privacy. This view would be embraced by seven justices in ''Roe'' two years later.
Significance
Vuitch lost in the sense that the statute was ruled not "vague"; the district court's decision was overturned and Vuitch could be prosecuted.
[Greenhouse, Linda. ''Becoming Justice Blackmun''. Times Books. 2005. Page 77.] However, the decision treated abortion as a surgical option not fundamentally different from any other, and the Court seemed to care most about sufficient leeway being given to a doctor's professional judgement.
[Greenhouse, Linda. ''Becoming Justice Blackmun''. Times Books. 2005. Page 78.]
The case was one of the first that the Supreme Court heard in regards to abortion restrictions in the United States.
The justices voted to hear ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' and ''
Doe v. Bolton'', other abortion cases, the day after ''Vuitch''s opinion was announced.
See also
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 402
This is a list of all United States Supreme Court cases from volume 402 of the ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, ord ...
* ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' (1973), decided just two terms after Vuitch
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States V. Vuitch
1971 in United States case law
Right to abortion under the United States Constitution
Right to privacy under the United States Constitution
United States abortion case law
United States privacy case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court
Women in Washington, D.C.