Roe v. Wade linked abortion rights to which constitutional principle?

• A. Right to bear arms
• B. Right to privacy
• C. Right to a speedy trial
• D. Right to a fair trial

Answer: (B)

Abortion rights are connected to the protection of privacy. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court treated the decision to terminate a pregnancy as part of a woman’s personal liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although privacy isn’t written as a separate right in the Constitution, the Court has interpreted liberty interests to include personal autonomy in intimate matters, building on prior cases like Griswold v. Connecticut. Because this right is fundamental, states can regulate abortion only to the extent that such regulations don’t infringed on that privacy interest, balancing the woman’s privacy with concerns about prenatal life and maternal health. The other options involve different amendments—the right to bear arms (Second Amendment) and rights in criminal proceedings (Sixth Amendment)—and they do not address a woman’s private decision about abortion.