A Dispassionate Review of Roe v Wade

# Stuff You Should Know Episode Summary

In this comprehensive episode, Josh and Chuck take a "dispassionate look" at the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade by examining its legal foundations, the real people behind the pseudonyms, and the complex constitutional arguments that made it both groundbreaking and ultimately vulnerable. They trace how the case emerged from a wave of nearly 20 simultaneous abortion challenges in the early 1970s, explain the legal doctrine of substantive due process and the right to privacy that the decision relied on, and discuss why legal scholars like Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued the case was decided on shaky constitutional ground from the start. The episode also covers related cases, the questionable relationship between Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey) and her attorneys, and the empirical findings of the Turnaway Study, which tracked the real-world consequences for women denied abortion access.