Theme issue is whether a healthy woman has a right to end a pregnancy through an abortion in Texas.

In the early 19 seventies, state law barred such operations.

A 22 year old pregnant woman living in Texas questioned whether the law was constitutional for this case.

The woman was called Jane Roe Row was not married.

She had little money or education.

She wanted to end the pregnancy safely.

So Row brought legal action against a state official, Henry Ways for the right to get an abortion at any time for any reason.

Row both failed and succeeded.

By the time her case reached the Supreme Court, she had given birth and put the baby up for adoption.

And the justices rejected her argument that women have an unrestricted right to abortion.

But a majority said women were permitted to end a pregnancy in the 1st 13 weeks.

That decision, they argued, was protected by a constitutional right to privacy.

Legal experts, activists, lawmakers and other Americans have debated the ruling ever since, But the debate did not persuade justices to overrule Roe versus Wade in 1992 Another abortion case came before the Supreme Court, a narrow majority.

The justices upheld the earlier decision.