Roe vs. Wade Trivia Quiz Questions
What is Roe v. Wade?
A: It was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court
ruled that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to
have an abortion without excessive government restriction.
What did Connecticut do in 1821.?
A: It passed the first state statute banning abortion in the United States.
In the United States, abortion itself was sometimes
considered a what?
A: A common law offense before specific statutes were made against it.
In all states throughout the 19th and early 20th
century, pre-quickening abortions were always considered to be what?
A: Actions without a lawful purpose.
This meant that if the mother died, the individual
performing the abortion was guilty of what?
A: Murder.
What did Rose Fosco pose as during sting operations
for the Chicago Police Department?
A: a woman seeking an abortion.
As an undercover officer she worked to do what?
A: Break up illegal abortion rings.
By 1971, elective abortion on demand was effectively
available where?
A: In Alaska,
California, Washington, D.C., Washington state,
Hawaii, and
New York.
Some women traveled to jurisdictions where it was
legal, although not all could what?
A: Afford to.
In 1971, Shirley Wheeler was charged with manslaughter
after what?
A: Florida hospital staff reported her illegal abortion to the police.
Wheeler was one of few women who were what?
A: Prosecuted by their states for abortion.
She received a sentence of two years’ probation and as
an option under her probation, chose to do what?
A: Move back into her parents' house in
North Carolina.
Who donated $3,500 to her defense fund and denounced
her prosecution?
A: The Playboy Foundation.
The Boston Women's Abortion Coalition raised money and
held a rally where attendees listened to what?
A: Speakers from the Women's National Abortion Action Coalition (WONAAC).
Her conviction was overturned by whom?
A: The Supreme Court of Florida.
Who was persuaded to join Linda Coffee after listening
to her give a speech about a new lawsuit she was going to file representing
a woman and her husband?
A: Sarah Weddington.
Weddington later wrote that they "needed to find a
what?
A: A pregnant Texas woman who wanted an abortion and would be willing to be
a plaintiff.
In June 1969, 21-year-old Norma McCorvey discovered she
was what?
A: Pregnant with her third child.
In 1970, Coffee and Weddington filed suit in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Texas on behalf of whom?
A: McCorvey under the legal pseudonym "Jane Roe".
The defendant in the case was Dallas County District
Attorney Henry Wade, who represented whom?
A: The State of Texas.
McCorvey's lawsuit was heard by a three-judge panel
consisting of what judges?
A: District court judges Sarah T. Hughes and William McLaughlin Taylor Jr.
and appellate judge Irving Loeb Goldberg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Hughes knew whom, who clerked for her from
1968–1969?
A: Coffee.
On June 17, 1970, the three judges unanimously ruled
how?
A: In McCorvey's favor and declared the Texas law unconstitutional.
In addition, the court relied on Justice Arthur
Goldberg's 1965 concurrence in Griswold v. Connecticut. The court declined
to grant a what?
A: An injunction against enforcing the law.
Roe v. Wade reached the Supreme Court on appeal in what
year?
A: 1970.
The justices delayed taking action on Roe and a closely
related case, Doe v. Bolton, until they had first what?
A: Decided certain other cases.
One case was United States v. Vuitch, in which they
considered the constitutionality of a District of Columbia statute which did
what?
A: Banned abortion except when the mother's life or
health was endangered.
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court issued a 7–2
decision in favor of "Jane Roe" (Norma McCorvey) holding that women in the
United States had a fundamental right to what?
A: To choose whether to have abortions without excessive government
restriction and striking down Texas's abortion ban as unconstitutional.