Petitioners brought this challenge to provisions of the Texas Penal Code, which prohibited anyone from procuring or attempting an abortion, except on “medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother.” Petitioner Jane Roe was an unmarried, pregnant woman who sought to terminate her pregnancy by an abortion “performed by a competent, …Read more

Davidson was a medical doctor who was charged of four counts of unlawfully using an instrument and one count of conspiring to use an instrument or other means with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman.

In June 1960, Wilhelmina Richter was admitted to Korle Bu Hospital. She was suffering from general peritonitis and told the doctors that an operation had been performed on her to procure an abortion. Ms. Richter had become pregnant in February of 1960 and, according to her testimony, approached Mr. Kesson, then a senior master for …Read more