The Political Biography of Roe v. Wade and the Evolution of "Roe" As a Symbol

The 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade did not begin the cultural “war” over abortion, nor did it immediately have a drastic effect on the ways Americans talked about abortion. This paper charts the gradual development of a mythology surrounding the case: in a process of metonymy that took more than a decade to develop, Roe came to stand in for abortion writ large. Proponents and opponents alike referred to the case as the singular turning point in the abortion debate--and, for some, in the shift in America’s social values. While the case enshrined the political value of the right to privacy, it also laid the groundwork for a competing ethical claim: the obligation of the state to protect fetal life. However, it took many years for the dichotomy of choice vs. life to develop and for Roe v. Wade to become simply “Roe” in popular discourse; its symbolic importance developed over time (for example, throughout the 1970s the case was not commonly referenced by name in the press or in political debate). This paper considers the shifting discourse on the case in the public realm, looking to popular magazines and newspapers as sources in order to identify points at which Roe began to transform in media representations into the landmark case that it is widely agreed to be today. I also analyze political speeches, statements, and platforms to explore how the developing cultural discourse of Roe affected and was affected by shifting articulations of the meaning of abortion and the political alliances built around it. This political biography of Roe adds to our understanding of how the abortion debate has developed over time and how the political and cultural weight of abortion has shifted since it first entered the national political arena.