Answer:
Roe v. Wade is a United States Supreme Court judgment which in practice legalized abortion in the United States. The lawsuit involved a Texas appeal where a allegedly raped woman - Jane Roe - went to trial in the state because she was denied to abort. Prosecutor was Henry Wade, who lost his first case through Roe against Wade.
The conclusion of the judgment established the constitutional interpretation that free abortion is a consequence of a right to privacy that the majority of the court found coated in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. By viability, abortion is only allowed for women's health, but defined to the extent that abortion is available until birth, for whatever reason.
Roe v. Wade is one of the most debated judgments in American legal history. For liberal and feminist groups, it was considered a major breakthrough and crucial step forward. Conservative groups, on the other hand, organized themselves to fight the verdict, on a principled basis but also on the basis of what they viewed as an unreasonable legal interference with the state's independent legislative authority. American politics was accentuated by a new dominant divide, between those who identified themselves as pro-choice (for the right to self-determined abortion) and, on the other hand, those who called themselves pro-life (against abortion).
Recent surveys found that 57% of Americans believed that abortion should be legal, while 40% thought it should be illegal in most cases.
