''Doe v. Bolton'', 410 U.S. 179 (1973), was a decision of the

Supreme Court of the United States 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 tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...

overturning the

abortion law Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...

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. The Supreme Court's decision was released on January 22, 1973, the same day as the decision in the better-known case of ''

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 ...

''.

Background

The Georgia law in question permitted

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 ...

only in cases of rape, severe fetal deformity, or the possibility of severe or fatal injury to the mother. Other restrictions included the requirement that the procedure be approved in writing by three physicians and by a three-member special committee that either (1) continued pregnancy would endanger the pregnant woman's life or "seriously and permanently" injure her health; (2) the fetus would "very likely be born with a grave, permanent and irremediable mental or physical defect"; or (3) the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. In addition, only Georgia residents could receive abortions under this statutory scheme: non-residents could not have an abortion in Georgia under any circumstances. The plaintiff, a pregnant woman who was given the pseudonym "Mary Doe" in court papers to protect her identity, sued Arthur K. Bolton, then the Attorney General of Georgia, as the official responsible for enforcing the law in the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (in case citations, N.D. Ga.) is a United States district court which serves the residents of forty-six counties. These are divided up into four divisions. Appeals from cases ...

. The anonymous plaintiff has since been identified as Sandra Cano, a young mother of three who was nine weeks pregnant at the time the lawsuit was filed. Cano, who died in 2014, described herself as pro-life and claimed her attorney, Margie Pitts Hames, lied to her in order to have a plaintiff. Hames claimed that Mrs. Doe had a neurochemical disorder which in her opinion and in the opinion of her physician made it inadvisable to continue her pregnancy. The lawyer claimed that the only way to avoid getting pregnant in the future was for Mr. and Mrs. Doe to abstain from sex. This argument described an ongoing harm to the couple's marital satisfaction in order to prevent judges from dismissing the case as moot once Cano gave birth. On October 14, 1970, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia consisting of Northern District of Georgia Judges

Albert John Henderson Albert John Henderson (December 12, 1920 – May 11, 1999) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and earlier was a United Sta ...

, Sidney Oslin Smith Jr., and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge

Lewis Render Morgan Lewis Render Morgan (July 14, 1913 – November 15, 2001) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and previously was a United ...

unanimously declared the conditional restrictions portion of the law unconstitutional, though upheld the medical approval and residency requirements. The court also declined to issue an injunction against enforcement of the law, similarly to the district court in the case ''

''. The plaintiff appealed to the Supreme Court under a statute, since repealed, permitting bypass of the circuit appeals court. The oral arguments and re-arguments followed the same schedule as those in ''Roe''. Atlanta attorney Hames represented Doe at the hearings, while Georgia assistant attorney general Dorothy Toth Beasley represented Bolton.

Opinion of the Court

The same 7–2 majority that struck down a

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abortion law in ''Roe v. Wade'' invalidated most of the remaining restrictions of the Georgia abortion law, including the medical approval and residency requirements. The Court reiterated the protected "

right to privacy The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 194 ...

," which applied to matters involving marriage, procreation,

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

, family relationships,

child rearing Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biol ...

, and education.

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Harry A. Blackmun wrote the majority opinion for the Court, in which he explained "the sensitive and emotional nature" of the issue and "the deep and seemingly absolute convictions" on both sides. Justice Blackmun went on to conclude that as a constitutional matter, the right to privacy was "broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." Together, ''Doe'' and ''Roe'' declared abortion as a

constitutional right A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...

and overturned most laws against abortion in other

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

s. ''Roe'' legalized abortion nationwide for approximately the first six months of pregnancy until the point of

fetal viability Fetal viability is the ability of a human fetus to survive outside the uterus. Medical viability is generally considered to be between 23 and 24 weeks gestational age. Viability depends upon factors such as birth weight, gestational age, and the ...

Definition of health

The Court's opinion in ''Doe v. Bolton'' stated that a woman may obtain an abortion after viability, if necessary to protect her health. The Court defined "health" as follows:

Subsequent developments

The records for ''Doe'' concerning Cano were sealed until 1988, when Cano had them unsealed in order to answer questions she had about the case. After abortion rights advocates found out about Cano's legal and political actions, her car was shot at and vandalized with graffiti, and someone shot at her while she was on her front porch holding her baby grandchild. In 2003, Sandra Cano filed a motion to re-open the case claiming that she had not been aware that the case had been filed on her behalf and that if she had known she would not have supported the litigation. The district court denied her motion, and she appealed. When the appeals court also denied her motion, she requested review by the United States Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court declined to hear Sandra Cano's suit to overturn the ruling.Mears, Bill
"Court won't rethink 'Mary Doe' abortion case"
''CNN'' (2006-10-10). Sandra Cano died on September 30, 2014.

References

External links

Written opinions * * Oral transcripts
Audio of oral arguments
''oyez.org'', transcripts accompany the audio
Transcript of First Oral Argument in ''Doe v. Bolton'', 410 U.S. 179 (1973)
''aul.org'', edited September 2011
Transcript of Reargument in ''Doe v. Bolton'', 410 U.S. 179 (1973)
''aul.org'', edited September 2011 Other media
Case file for Lewis Powell
memos and annotated copies for ''Doe v. Bolton'' and ''Roe v. Wade'', ''law.wlu.edu''
United States Senate Committee of the Judiciary Testimony of Sandra CanoAttorney General Arthur Bolton with Governor Jimmy Carter, 1972
photo taken December 1972, ''Digital Collections'', Georgia State University Library {{US14thAmendment, dueprocess American Civil Liberties Union litigation Medical lawsuits 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 substantive due process case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court Void for vagueness case law 1973 in United States case law History of women in Georgia (U.S. state)